Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest
by Jayan phoenix
Summary: Book Three of the Heritage Series: The Ministry is on the verge of collapse, Voldemort is days from reigning over the entire country. However, such control is perilous, one young man seeks to undo everything. Harry no longer content to sit on the side lines takes on the fight himself to bring an end to Voldemort's tyranny and break his hold on life.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter One**

 **The Deep Breath**

There was something happening across the British Isles, it was unseen, hidden in the shadows but it could be felt by many. A feeling had been lingering over the country for the last few weeks, and the atmosphere had gotten darker, heavier, but tonight that had changed.

It felt like everything had stopped, or paused in apprehension or fear. As if the country itself had taken a deep calming breath for whatever was to come.

Old muggles could be heard saying they had a bad feeling, that they could feel a storm coming in their very bones, or that something was about to happen. The wildlife was also acting oddly, as if they too were detecting what was to come.

The unseen magical community was scrambling, their ministry was losing the war against the dark forces who had managed to take out two pillars of their community. Many families had upped and left in fear of what seemed inevitable, others were hiding themselves.

But as the establishment was struggling to deal with the threat they faced, the dark forces were gaining strength, with every day they were getting closer to achieving their aims.

In the heart of an old English shire sat the expansive lands of one of the wealthy pureblood wizard elite, sitting in the centre of that land was a large stone Manor House surrounded by sprawling gardens and reached by a long-paved approach.

A slight crack echoed across the country road that led to the property, a man appeared seemingly out of thin air and landed lightly in front of the large and ornate black gates. Dark magic radiated out from the gates and it reached its invisible cold fingers out and pressed against his body and constricted his throat.

The man didn't pause, he began to walk briskly forwards and raised an arm out in front of him with his palm up. With that action the magic assaulting him withdrew somewhat and released the feeling from his neck and he was able to walk up to the gates and walked straight through the metal that became like smoke.

Quickening his pace, the man hurried towards the house. The gardens and grounds that surrounded him echoed eerily with their own music, from the rustle of the plants, the trickling of water and the cries of birds that contained by magic.

But he did not notice these things, his thoughts were focused on other business, and for what was coming. He walked impassively his face betraying no emotion, but his shoulders were stiff and his muscles tense, behind him his robes flared and flapped menacingly.

He had been to this house numerous times over the years. It was overly extravagant and opulent to the excess that he found it garish. Once at the front door the man had been met by a wide-eyed house-elf and it had offered to escort him, but the man had sneered and made his way up the large wooden staircase and down the portrait gallery.

Staring down at him as he walked were generations of witches and wizards with pointed faces and most, if not all, had the platinum blonde hair that many believed unique to the family, yet the man believed it was their superior and conceited sneers that gave away the family name.

The Malfoy Manor was far from the place the man he been brought up as a child, and as he always did when he walked this gallery he felt a stab of jealously and envy that it inspired by design, and the man hated himself for allowing his background effect him after all these years.

Why they were being hosted at the Malfoy Manor the man did not know, although it was at least warmer and more comfortable than the marble throne room that had been built by controlled slaves during the last war.

He entered the drawing room which was silent despite being filled with no less than thirty people, at the head of the table sat the man who commanded them to be in this room and he looked up at him expectantly.

"Severus." He said quietly, "I almost thought you would be late."

Around the room people sneered nastily, they believed that would mean his place among them would become lower but those looks turned sour as the man gestured for Severus to take the seat to his right.

Sitting at the Dark Lords right hand signified his importance in the inner circle when they were not sitting as an actual circle that was. However, Severus knew that it was a vicarious position to have, it placed a target on his head as others would wish to unseat him through betrayal or other devious means, but it was also a dangerous seat for their Master favoured his right hand and if angered more than one of their number met their end just because they sat closest.

"What news do you bring?" Voldemort asked once he was sat down, again making a point to wait for him.

"As you thought my Lord, the Order of the Phoenix have gone to ground with the death of Black." He reported, "My source says that every residence associated with the Order has been placed under the strongest magic, some have even used the Fidelius Charm." He sneered in disdain before adding, "My source did not know the location of the boy, he could be anywhere behind any of those enchantments, for now he is beyond even our reach."

"Pity." Voldemort said dangerously, "It will delay is death, but that is inevitable."

"The boy will no doubt return to school in but a few months my Lord." Yaxley laughed, "We can get to him then, the school will be ours soon enough."

"Harrison Black-Potter will not be returning to Hogwarts for the new school year." Severus countered firmly, "He is arrogant enough to wish to fight us head on now."

There was a silent paused before loud laughter broke out, they all found it laughable that a mere boy of sixteen thought he could fight them and win when grown wizards could not.

Severus did not laugh, for it was no joke. He had once thought his abilities were mediocre at best, however in recent years the boys skill and power had grown and Severus wouldn't underestimate him.

Beside him there was also an absence of laughter at the idea of a seventeen year old boy fighting them, this absence had gone dangerously unnoticed by most in the room. But Severus had seen the flash of his eyes at the news, and his nostrils had flared dangerously and his hand twitched towards his wand.

"The boy will fight us he is not a coward. No doubt the Old Fool and Black fed developed his inflated sense of power to think he can challenge us. I will end that folly." Voldemort said quietly but he was heard through all the laughter which died instantly.

"The boy is not unintelligent, he will no doubt hide his own location even from the Order of the Phoenix, he wouldn't want to put them at risk of questioning from us. No doubt the increased protection across all of the orders houses was Moodys idea, it's a shell game." Severus continued bracingly, "The Ministry will likewise not be appraised of the boys location."

"I heard differently my Lord." Yaxley added, "The ministry believes that the boy is residing in the Black London residence."

"That is an assumption." Severus said tersely, the man was an idiot, "The Will of Lord Black has yet to be executed, and to my knowledge still resides with the Goblins. Scrimgeour has guessed that is why the boy is located, besides it has no need of the Ministry protection, this is just Scrimgeour trying to appease the public."

"All ministry resources have been given to protect the house." Yaxley continued with a sour look, "Scrimgeour has given the boy every resource at his disposal, the DOM also assisted with the protections.

"Black House is hidden behind Black Family Wards!" Severus snapped, Yaxley was irritating him, "The Ministry resources are privative is comparison to the Black Family resources. The Order will avoid working with the Ministry, they know we have agents there. The boy has also learnt that leaving your life in the hands of others only leads to death so I doubt he will use a Fidelius Charm."

At these words Severus threw a glare to the very end of the left side of the long polish table where Wormtail sat, small and almost invisible except his shining silver hand. Severus was silently pleased to see him shrink away from these words, perhaps he did feel remorse after all these years."

"Where do you think he will be?" Voldemort asked him directly, "You have watched him for years, you know of his capabilities."

"He is intelligent, he hides it but it simmers beneath the surface." Severus admitted ruefully, something that had taken him years to understand, "He knows that for anyone to harbour him means endangering his friends. So we can ignore the houses of the Order, likewise he will avoid his own properties, that is too obvious."

"Gringotts will be an obvious bolt hole, he will need money to hide effectively, a watch should be posted on the Bank. I believe to guess where he will hide will be fruitless, better to draw him out or strike where you know he will be."

"We should storm every single house we believe connected to the boy and the Order!" Travers said eagerly, "we could wipe them out in a single night if we so chose, we might get lucky and he might be visiting, but if not they are no more."

Voldemort said nothing on that suggestion, instead he looked to Rowle.

"What did you find in the muggle suburb?" He asked, "Did you find the boys filthy muggle family?"

Rowle hesitated before he answered, "No my Lord. The house was empty, I couldn't find any trace of them or the boy. I…coaxed….information from the neighbours, they told me the house has been accent for a year, however couldn't tell me anything about the family. Even with additional coaxing they could say no more on the boys relatives."

"Muggles are filthy simple-minded creatures, so easily influenced by our magic." Voldemort said his eyes narrowing on Rowle possibly looking for sign of deceit or wondering at his inability to find simple information. "Severus, what was their name? You were privy to Dumbledore's placement of the boy."

Severus opened his mouth to answer but the name escaped him. He remembered that Lily had a sister and a family of her own, but her name alluded him. When he tried to remember who the boy had been left with he just knew it was muggles.

He could recognise the effect of a spell at play, and he silently wondered who had come up with it for it was a subtle enchantment that effected perception and memory of any who should try to think on Lilys muggle relatives.

"I cannot say my Lord." He admitted without reluctance, "I know that I once knew this information but I can no longer recall it. I believe that the Order has placed an enchantment on this knowledge, much like a Fidelius Charm."

The entire table was silent, waiting on their Lords reaction. Some looked almost gleeful thinking that Severus would feel their masters ire, but instead their masters attention was given to another.

"And how goes your work? How far have we penetrated?" He asked dangerously to Yaxley who flinched slightly in his seat.

"The additional Ministry security is problematic as you know my Lord." He said quickly, "However we have managed to get to three of the Ministers support staff, two in the DMLE and one in the DOM so we can reach Robards and Croaker as we take down Scrimgeour at the same time. I have also today managed to use the indoctrination process on Pius Thickneese, through him we will be able to reach people in every department and with that access more agents through whom we can achieve our aims."

"Good." Voldemort nodded, "Black was clever to introduce those security measures to the Ministry, but these measures have been lax of late as the Minister redirects resources to combat our distractions. The potion you brewed has done its job Severus."

"I only followed your instructions my Lord." Severus said bowing his head not wanting the praise at all. "It was Wormtail who managed to introduce it to Scrimgeour."

"Yes." Voldemort said, and he glared in the aforementioned mans direction, "It would have been success had he not forced an altercation with Black which then prevented his further excursions into the ministry. In our grand scheme his contribution is but a trifle."

"Th-thank you my lord." Wormtail stuttered.

Voldemort's lip curled at his words, and many of the assembled death eaters sneered in his direction.

"The time has come to take the Ministry of Magic." Voldemort told them all, "we must take it in the coming days, it is time for us to move on them and rule from the heart of London and all their resources will be ours. Once we have the ministry then so to shall Hogwarts be ours and once we have them, then the boy shall be mine!"

"It will be done my lord." Yaxley vowed, "I will direct Pius once we are done here."

"Once we have the Ministry none can stand against us. Controlling the ministry gives us the tools we need to control this country, no longer will we be shackled by their laws, we can reshape this country once and for all." Voldemort told them, "there will be resistance, the Order of the Phoenix will attempt to undermine our control. We will crush them as we would step on an any hill. The boy is our biggest threat, he is already a symbol, as ridiculous as that is, people could muster behind him. We need to to strike at the order, cut the head of the snake before they can bite us."

"I would like to volunteer for myself for this task, I will take the house of my blood-traitor sister." Bellatrix said seething madly.

"No." Voldemort snapped dangerously, she was not to leave the manor at all, "Your wish to purge your niece from you family tree is admirable given the shame as she infects a branch with a lycanthrope, but you will remain here."

"My Lord…I…" Lucius went to say but faltered at the look his pregnant wife threw at him before she looked pointedly at the table.

"You have something to add Lucius?" Voldemort asked coyly and he absentmindedly stroked Nagini who now draped herself over him, "I have broken you out of Azkaban after your failure to get the Prophecy, I have graced your home with my presence and even allowed your son a seat at this table and, yet you do not seem happy to have us here. Are we such unwelcome guests? If you prefer we can retire to my throne room and I can give you a lesson in hospitality."

"No m-my Lord." He stuttered, "I…"

"What of you Draco?" Voldemort said cooly turning his gaze from the haggard Malfoy patriarch, "Do you wish us gone?"

"No, my Lord." Draco replied dutifully, like his mother he looked pointedly at the hard wood table.

"Perhaps the Malfoys believe that they can find Sanctuary within the House of Black." Voldemort added looking at them carefully, "You attended the funeral of Lord Black without my knowledge. Your son suffered because of your decision Narcissa."

"My Lord I only wanted confirm his death…" Narcissa said but was silenced with a spell.

"Lies." Voldemort hissed dangerously, "Your pregnancy will not stay my hand again, you lie to me again and both you and your son will suffer my displeasure, Lord Voldemort always knows when you lie."

Severus looked towards the Malfoy hosts, they were pale, paler than normal and he thought Lucius may even have turned to the bottle given his appearance. Bellatrix was stationed in the manor to keep an eye on them he thought, Narcissa's pregnancy could lead to her acting rashly to protect the unborn child, or even Draco, if exposed to further torment, her sister was well position to stop any such acts.

"Severus." Voldemort said quietly, "How can we get to the boy? You know his flaws almost as well as I."

Severus paused before he answered, "Harrison has been known to be as rash as Black, if we target someone close to him and he hears this he will no doubt attempt to intervene."

"Who do we target?" Voldemort asked him, "What about the Mudblood?"

"Oh, the prissy little know it all!" Bellatrix said sounding delighted, "the Boy will no doubt want to protect her."

"She would have been an ideal target my lord, however she will no doubt have taken steps to protect both herself and her own family." Severus countered, "She is acutely intelligent and has skills beyond one would expect of her age. The Weasleys are likewise prepared for this eventuality."

Voldemort nodded, "Pity, the blood traitors are not much better than mudbloods but at least their blood is pure if tainted. Even the ancient houses have fallen by the wayside, but soon the House of Slytherin will reign once more. I will ensure that no more do our bloodlines get diluted with muggle filth, and that we retake the power these mudbloods stole. We shall start with our guest."

His gaze turned upwards and his red eyes piercing something that was unseen and his white yew wands twitched in its direction.

Out of nowhere a woman appeared, having been suspended, immobile and silenced above them, now she was revealed her terror was tangible and she was silently crying looking down at them as she was lowered.

Everyone was shocked to see the woman hanging there in front of them, but the shock turned to eagerness when they guessed what would probably be happening next.

Severus tensed as he looked at the woman who had been revealed, he had noticed something off above the table but had dismissed it, his masters spell had been almost flawless.

"You recognise her I am sure Severus." Voldemort said watching his face keenly, and then he turned to Draco, "And you Draco? Do you recognise her?"

"She is a professor." Draco responded barely concealing his horror that a woman hung suspended in his family drawing room.

"You would not have taken her class, but yes." Voldemort said, and he did not take his eyes of the youngest Malfoy, "We are joined tonight by the former professor of Muggle Studies, Charity Burbage. Only today she submitted an article to the Daily Prophet to declare that muggles are not so different from us."

The room buzzed with revolted muttering, one of the death eaters stood and spat at her while others laughed at her audacity and questioned how she could believe such a thing, muggles were as dumb as animals.

Tears had tracked all down her cheeks and her eyes were swollen yet wide in fear, she didn't look at Voldemort her eyes looked beseechingly at Severus.

"Severus! Help me! Please!" She cried her voice breaking.

"Look at her now!" Voldemort said finally looking away from Draco, "She begs for help, she begs a wizard for help, not some dirty muggle."

"Severus…..Please…." She said again

"For fifteen years she has been been polluting the minds of our children but now has put those views to parchment. According to her, we must dilute our blood and accept the thieves of our knowledge, magic, and power. Reducing the number of purebloods is according to her a desirable outcome as in her mind they are antiquated and in some cases backwards…. She even promotes mating with muggles!"

The sneers and looked of revulsion did not change, but no one spoke each of them looking at the woman with pure hatred.

"She is an embarrassment to to wizarding world." Voldemort said with contempt glaring at her, "her views are a plague, we will kill the plague carrier to prevent its epidemic."

Hearing these words Charity sobbed and for the first time looked at Voldemort and her eyes went even wider and what little colour was in her face disappeared and Severus was surprised her hair had not turned white.

"S-S-Severus! Please!" She cried.

"Will you help her Severus?" Voldemort said toying with her.

Severus looked at her coldly, "She deserves what comes next my Lord, she is no better than a…She is a Blood Traitor."

"Yes." Voldemort said frowning for a moment at his pause.

The professor was breathing quickly now, she couldn't catch her breath as she realised her last chance of survival was futile and she was shaking uncontrollably but she managed to find her voice.

"H-Harrison…. He will... S-stop you…. He did it o-once…. he…"

" _AVADA KEDAVRA_ "

Green light illuminated the entire room, reflecting off every reflected surface momentarily blinding people with its brightness and the woman fell onto the table with a crash but was then pounced on by Nagini.

All the Death Eaters leapt out of their chairs as the giant snake had lunged at the dead woman, and they watched on in horror.

"Enjoy your Dinner Nagini." Voldemort said standing up triumphantly, "Leave me, I will see to our prisoner, Ollivander should have finished my new wand by now."

 **o-HP-o**

Two weeks had passed since Harry had buried his adoptive father, two weeks since he had vowed to no longer sitting idle while Voldemort threatened all that he cared for. In those two weeks he had been busy getting ready to take up the fight that had long been coming.

Black House was almost entirely empty apart from its new young owner and as of a week before he had been joined by his best friend Hermione. The house was a ghost of its former self, its grandeur obscured by thick white sheets that covered almost all the furniture in most rooms.

Even the elves who served in the house was almost all gone, Telvar had died not long after Sirius had been killed and was now buried in the grounds of Ravenwood Hall. Winky had been assigned to the Weasleys at the Burrow to help with the upcoming wedding, and Dobby he had asked him to serve Remus and Dora at their new house Harry had gifted to them.

Kreacher remained in the House, merely because he refused to leave the house of his masters until it was sealed, he would not abandon the house until that time came.

In the first week, Harry and his two best friends had been seeing to their preparations to leave their homes and to protect their families.

When Hermione had turned up on his doorstep crying, he had lead her quickly inside and discovered what she had done in the name of protecting her parents. He marvelled at what she had been able to do, erasing their memories had taken strength that Harry was not sure he himself had.

How she had mustered the courage to do it, Harry did not know but he greatly respected the lengths which she had gone to. Hermione had not only removed memories of herself from them, and removed any traces of herself from their belongings, but even changed their identities.

Harry did not think that she had done it all by herself, she had refused to elaborate on what she had done but he knew she had sent them to Australia, far from their war. He wondered if Sirius had a hand in helping her arrange their emigration or change of identities.

Ron had been busy at home after the funeral, his mother knew he would probably follow Harry and had conscripted him into the wedding arrangements. But he had managed to speak to his father and explain what his plan was, Mr Weasley was naturally concerned and curious but he respected Rons decision and along with Bill and Fred and George they worked to help him.

For Harry the preparations were more complicated, he had traveled to the outskirts of Surrey to the house he had secretly purchased for his relatives. They were still there, hidden behind the powerful wards and they were safe for which he was glad, he didn't speak with them, merely watch from afar.

Next, he had gone to Gringotts and met with both Griphook and Narfang for the Black and Potter accounts respectively. They advised him to remove all money from his trust accounts and deposit them within the Ancestral vaults for better protection which they quickly acted on however Harry left one alone due to what it contained.

Through Griphook he halted all work being carried out on the Potter Estate, he had to pay additional fees and cancellation costs, but didn't care merely signed the orders. Even the work that was supposed to start in Godrics Hollow was halted.

Narfang had wanted to discuss the Black Accounts and the topic of Sirius's will but Harry had refused to discuss it, he had been given autonomy by Sirius and that was enough to allow him to control the vaults and properties even if the Will was not executed.

One of the last things he had done was sign the house that Sirius had bought when he left school to Remus and Dora jointly, it was an engagement present for the two of them as he needed to evict Remus from Black House.

It had taken him an hour to get Remus and Dora to accept his gift, but their arguments had died once they realised that the house was technically already theirs and he refused to take it back. They had been incredibly grateful, but Harry has just smiled and allowed them to get settled in alone even though they did not want him to leave.

One of Harrys biggest challenges was how to protect his various houses and properties. He was not foolish enough to think he could use them to hide from Voldemort, the country Estates were well documented and even the strongest wards could be broken. A Fidelius could work but then he worried about its security.

The solution had been given to him by Bill Weasley, when Harry has approached him for advice on warding his properties so that none could access them he had readily suggested something called the Seal of Amun. A ward that was the strongest he had every encountered as a curse breaker and one that was unbreakable accept if you had the keys.

It was a magical seal created by the Ancient Egyptian Wizards to seal tombs, some believed its as the precursor to the Fidelius charm. The Seal creates an impenetrable barrier around a structure, rendering it both invisible, and forgotten.

Much like the Fidelius Charm, its power came from being bound to a living being and so long as that being lived then the seal would remain in tact. According to lore the ancient wizards would bind their seals to newborn children to protect their tombs and vaults for a generation and by that time the tomb should have been forgotten or lost. However, some were bound to an entire bloodline, so long as the line endured then so did the seal.

Nine tombs to date had been found to still be protected by the seal Amun, and despite all the magical advances and thousands of years since the seal was place into still protected the tombs over which it was cast, and none had managed to break through.

Some of the most obscure and mostly fragmented accounts and scripture said that the Seal was created to seal powerful dark creatures within everlasting tombs. Most wizarding Egyptologists and historians believed that a secret sect of priests of Osiris had created the vampire species, and that the Seal was used to entomb the blight that they had created.

The seal itself was rooted in runic and ritualistic magic, and required the blood of the bound and castor and required a long incantation in an old dialect. However, it took Bill only a few hours to get everything Harry needed to use the seal.

Sealing the Potter Estate had been Harry's first attempt at using the ancient ritual and it had taken him the best part of a day to achieve the magic as he had been overly cautious. The keys to the seal was not only his blood, but also the blood of Kreacher and Dobby who had given it at their own volition and he had refused to order them to spill their blood.

Once the seal had been placed, he had but a few moments to get outside the property boundary, he hightailed it away from the ward stone and then apparated outside the great gates and then a golden wall sprang up from the ground and shining Egyptian scripture rippled over the wall before it faded, and it took his family estate with it.

He followed the same process with the damaged cottage in Godric's Hollow and the Black Country Estate. Sealing away Ravenwood Hall had taken him three times as long as the Potter properties as he had to fight the Black Ward Stone to force the seal to take effect.

Perhaps it knew he had not claimed the Headship of the House of Black, the ring had not changed with Sirius's death, so he wondered if that was why the ward stone had fought him.

Harry saw no need to seal the land on which the Shrieking Shack sat on, nor did he travel to Bulgaria to seal the Hunting Lodge. The creatures there were a deterrent enough, and the wards were most vigorous and dangerous to contain those creatures. Sirius had sold the Russian house months before, and the French Chateaux had been seized by the French National Convention.

The last property he needed to seal was one that Harry was both reluctant to leave and reluctant to seal away. Black House was his home, he might have only lived there for less than a year between attending Hogwarts but it was the home Sirius had created for them both.

He was sitting on the floor of his room surrounded by piles of his belongings as he sorted out what he would be taking with him.

School robes, quidditch robes, some of his school textbooks, telescope sat to one side of him, while on the other were; muggle clothing, some wizardwear, the marauders map, his invisibility cloak, some of his more useful and advanced books, his potions kit, rune kit, two-way mirror and some other bits and bobs he thought by be of use.

One item that sat within sight was the locket that Harry had taken from the Cave, it sat on the bedside table as a reminder. It had been one of the worst nights he could remember while at school and it had cost them a great deal to get it even though it was worthless.

Sirius had never known the truth about it, his friends knew now but he didn't elaborate more on what had transpired or even want to discuss the accursed fake locket.

It was just another painful reminder that Sirius had been taken from him before they could resolve everything between them and fight this war.

Reaching once more into his school trunk, Harry pulled out the ornate white ivory box that Dumbledore had left for Harry to find, filled with its memories of Tom Riddle and covered in its beautiful carvings.

A knock on his door distracted him.

"Harry are you almost ready?" Hermione asked before she saw everything on the floor.

"Just need to finish up packing." Harry said, and he placed the box down with the other belongings to be taken with them, "It is hard to know what we will need or what we will face."

"I know." She said grimly, "I must have packed and unpacked everything ten times before I finally settled on what I wanted. You know between the two of us we should have everything. Ron won't bring much."

"No." Harry snorted, "probably just a chess board."

"So long as he brings his wits and wand that is all he needs." Hermione smiled shaking her head, "Do you think it is a good idea to go to the Weasleys?"

"No." Harry sighed, "But after tonight we have nowhere else to go, I am sealing this house away. Bill and Fleurs wedding is in a few days time, we promised that we would attend."

Hermione looked conflicted as she hugged her arms staring at the fake horcrux, "I just feel like we have bigger things that we should be doing, a wedding just seems so small and immaterial."

"As do I." Harry agreed, "But this wedding is a good thing, it will show that we are not scared to celebrate something even during a war. By not allowing Voldemort to take a wedding from us we at least have a small victory."

Finally, content that he had everything that he wanted, Harry placed everything that he would be taking into his trunk and the rest would remain in his bedroom and beyond his reach.

"Well that's me all packed, the only other thing that I need is to get some gold from Gringotts, I didn't have the time when I was last there." Harry told her, "We should probably buy some more supplies too, do you still need anything?"

"I don't think so." She said frowning, "Mr Weasley is lending me a tent in case we should need one, Moody is getting me a flagon of Polyjuice potion. I intend to raid Mrs Weasley's potions cupboard for some potions to get us going, did you pack a cauldron? We can make many of our own potions."

"I did." Harry nodded, "I need to to brew a new batch of potions for my belt anyway."

"I was going to start brewing but wasn't sure what we would need, Mrs Weasley would have suggestions if I asked but I wont given how she is being." Hermione added, "You know how she is, she always seems to have what you need even when you don't know yourself."

"I often say the same about you." Harry laughed, "You always come through for us."

Hermione smiled, and pointed at his trunk, "I will pack that with all of my stuff if you don't mind."

With a press of his hand to the metal lock it sealed and locked itself and shrunk itself down and placed it in his pocket and stood up with a deep sigh and looked around his room. Remembering when Sirius had given him this room and what it meant.

With his wand in hand he gave it a flick and with a silent incarnation large white sheets flew from its tip and draped themselves over his bed and other furniture and the window shutters closed themselves throwing the room into darkness.

"Kreacher!" Harry called. And the diminutive elf appeared in front of him.

"Master Harrison called Kreacher." He said with a deep bow and even deeper croaking voice.

"It is time." Harry told him.

Kreacher bowed again, they had discussed what would happen when Harry had returned from sealing his other properties.

"Master Harrison is to be being careful, Young Master is not to die yet for he is too young and important." The elf said not daring to look at Harry, "Master Black will never forgive Kreacher for allowing master to leave and fight."

"Kreacher you are to leave this house." Harry told him firmly repeating the same orders he had given the other elves, "You are to stay away from me unless I call you to me. You should find yourself work where you are needed and keep yourself safe. As the head elf of the House of Black, you are to keep an eye on Winky and even Dobby. I give you leave to defend yourself and our family against those that wish us ill."

The faithful elf looked up at him before he bowed once again and disapparated and left the house of his masters.

Hermione startled Harry by placing a supportive hand on his arm, "Where has he gone?"

"I imagine he will go to Andromedas." Harry said looking at the spot the elf just vacated, "the only family he has is Andromeda, its his choice but Winky is with the Weasleys, Dobby serves Dora and Remus which only leaves Andromeda."

"What about the Malfoys?" She asked delicately, "They are still family."

"He could serve them." Harry admitted, "But I don't think that he will, Kreacher might not have liked Sirius, but he is loyal to the House of Black. The House of Black is staunchly opposed to the Death Eaters and any who associate with them, Kreacher could not serve the Malfoys for that reason."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the look Hermione was giving him and raised a curious brow in question.

"Your understanding of elves is insightful." She said, "they are very strange creatures, they are so foreign to us that I find it hard to understand them."

"They are a different intelligent species." Harry reminded her, "with their own wants, needs, and thoughts. To judge them by human standards is to underestimate them, they are complex creatures yet at times simple. I trust Kreacher and because of that trust I do not believe he will ever betray me."

It took Harry a further ten minutes to finish shutting down the rest of the house, he released the owls from the owlery in the attic, where they would go he did not know but they flew off into the night.

Hermione was waiting for him downstairs while he went into Sirius's office and placed his hands on the ward stone and cast the seal. The coat of arms glowed brilliantly as he spoke the final word and he hurried from the office and down the stairs.

"Out of the door. Now!" Harry shouted as he jumped the last of the stairs and ran down the hall and all but dragged her to the door which sprang open unaided and they barrelled out of the door and fell down the steps and over the property boundary.

Hermione gasped as golden wall of light sprang up around the property and then it disappeared taking the house with it.

"I can't see it." Hermione said aghast.

"It is hidden to all now." Harry told her not looking at the join where the house should sit. "We have to go now. Before we are spotted."

Without pausing for a final look Harry spun on the spot leaving the dark square of houses, above three owls hooted and screeched probably seeing a rat that rustled in the grass in the square while the two late teens left the square with an almost imperceptible crack.

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Two**

 **The White Lies We All Tell**

Harry and Hermione had a nasty shock as they apparated. Rather than reappearing in the front yard of the Burrow as Harry had pictured, they had hit an impassable barrier within the constricting nothing of their path from one place to the other.

The two of them felt like they had literally bounced of the barrier and reappearing in normal space and had been thrown heavily and painfully away. Harry fell headfirst into a tree barely managing to shield himself from hitting his head, while Hermione had fallen straight into a very twiggy bush.

"What in the name of Merlin happened!" Hermione cried out trying to get up out of the bush, but her hair had become ensnared within its branches.

"Anti-Disapparition ward." Harry guessed, "Only type of ward that could do that, and it's a powerful one too. Don't you find it odd that Ron never mentioned it?"

"What and miss the sight of you being knocked on your arse?" Said a sniggering voice from over the hill, and a tall red headed man walked down the hill with a large smile on his face. "I am joking, I was going to lower it, but you got here earlier than I thought you would."

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione cried finally getting herself free of the bush, "This is not funny."

Ron shrugged and gave her a lopsided grin, "You got to get your laughs where you can now, not many about these days."

Walking gingerly forward Harry kept his arms outstretched and his palms out as he could feel the power radiating from what he could only imagine resembling an invisible bubble of magic that now encircled the Burrow, the air was heavy with their power and he could almost feel the ward humming beneath his hand "Are these new wards or recently been charged?" Harry asked trying to understand the feeling behind the magic.

"New." Ron nodded, "Bill removed all of the old ones and placed the strongest and most powerful ones together, went right over my head as I saw him working on them. I will need to escort you both over the boundary, if you tried to get passed or force your way through they can be pretty damn nasty."

Reaching out to them both, he took Harry and Hermione by the arms and walked them over the boundary line and set off towards the Weasleys ramshackle house.

"So how have things been here?" Hermione asked, "We didn't hear much from you and you didn't come to Black House at all in the end."

Ron threw an annoyed look towards the house, "I couldn't. Mum has been a right state over the last few weeks, ever since… Bill and Fleur have been managing to keep her busy with the wedding plans, but she isn't letting me out of her sight for longer than a few minutes."

"She knows you intend to follow me." Harry said, he should have known Mrs Weasley would not be in favour of them fighting.

"She guessed I will even when I say I am not going anywhere." Ron shrugged, "Obviously she doesn't know anything about the mission to destroy the Horcrux's or the rest of it. All she knows is that it is your intention to fight him and the Death Eaters now and realised that I would be fighting right there next to you. She doesn't want us to plan anything as that means we will be leaving and fighting. You watch, once your inside it is going to be difficult for us to do anything without her interfering."

As they walked over the last hill and around the corner the Burrow came into sight and both Harry and Hermione stopped in surprise, the Burrow was so familiar and recognisable as it always was, but it had changed so much that some of it was almost unrecognisable.

The house itself had not changed, it was still tall, taller than should be possible to still be standing and most obviously held up with magic. Yet the stone lower level of the house was very different. The stonework was clean, no longer covered in moss, ivy, and bird droppings. The windows and doors were all freshly painted and restored or replaced and the hinges and fixtures all freshly burnished.

Above the stonework the rest of the house was unchanged, the lower house was the original structure that the Weasleys had managed to acquire after their fall, but upper levels had grown with the ever-expanding family.

Even the yard and surrounding gardens had been transformed.

The yard had been swept clean and it looked like someone had scrubbed the old cobbles and slabs until they shined brilliantly. Gone were all the rusty cauldrons, chickens, and old wellington boots. The chickens were in their coop hidden behind some trellises covered in brilliant white Jasmine, two new large potted plants sat next to the door moving without any wind, and the windows also had new window boxes filled with colourful flowers.

Even the garden looked like it had all been recently pruned and trimmed and looked almost uniform now and the wall that separated the garden to the yard had also been cleaned like the rest of the stone work and a new metal gate had been fitted into the stone arch.

Harry and Hermione stood open mouthed as they looked at the transformation.

"Dad spent a bit of gold for the first time in…well…ever." Ron laughed seeing their expressions "Winky has also been a great help too. If we were not in the middle of a war and given a few more years, it might look almost ordinary."

"But that was part of its charm!" Harry said looking slightly disappointed, it had been the first magical house he had seen, and it was also very homely for all its ramshackle and poverty-stricken appearance.

"This house must be made to befit the name of an Ancient and Most Noble House of Weasley." Ron said in a mocking imitation of his mother's voice, "if we dared complain that's what she shouted at us. Dad is the first Lord Weasley in three generations, and in a few days our first society wedding and event in over a century so the pressure is really piling on Bill and Fleur."

"And how are they taking it?" Hermione asked, frowning a little, Fleur was not her favourite person.

"Fine." Ron shrugged, "You know Bill he takes it all in his stride, Fleur is also good at all the arranging and stuff. Her and mum are unstoppable when they get into full wedding mode so watch out. Her parents are also pretty decent too, although Ginny doesn't like Fleurs sister much."

The front door opened and out stepped a beaming Mrs Weasley in an apron.

"Harry! Hermione!" She said sounding delighted and she pulled them into bone crushing hugs that rivalled Hagrid. "Oh, it's so good to see you, I was so worried about you both being alone in that big house."

"We were fine Mrs Weasley." Hermione said while Ron just gave them a look to say, 'she has you now.'

She looked over them both were motherly concern and a look of a woman who was plotting something.

"Well you're here now dears and that's what matters, come inside." She said, and she guided them inside the house and kept a strong hand on them as if she was frightened that they would disappear or suddenly leave.

While the outside of the house looked very different the inside was remarkably the same if just a little cleaner. The kitchen had been thoroughly cleaned until it shined, and the table was covered in all sorts of parchments and other bit and pieces all related to the wedding.

"Master Harrison!" An excited squeal shouted, as something small and greenish wearing a grey towel-toga came into the room.

"Hello Winky." Harry said smiling and bending down to be level with her, "Have you been keeping yourself busy?"

"Yes." She said nodding happily, "The Weazys have lots of work for Winky! By the Mrs does not be letting Winky cook."

"I like to cook dear." Mrs Weasley said consolingly, "However we have agreed that once a week I will get a day off from feeding the rabble which is lovely. She really has been a big help with all the wedding plans. We…"

"Harrison!" Said the musical voice of Fleur as she saw him as she came into the kitchen with a box in her hand, "It is so good to see you, we hoped that you would still attend the wedding, you are our friend non?"

"I wouldn't miss it Fleur." Harry said managing a smile as she kissed him on each cheek, he was happy for her and Bill even if he thought his mission was more important that their wedding but he still wanted to celebrate with them.

"Hermione, it is good you are here too!" Fleur said giving her a hug too, "You need to help with this one." She gestured to Ron, "he has been sulking for days as he has missed you!"

"I have not!" Ron spluttered, "I..."

Harry and Hermione laughed at how red their best friend had gone but it was not from the effect of Fleurs Veela Heritage, he was spluttering because of what she had said.

"The order for the men has arrived." She told Mrs Weasley handing over the box which contained red and gold material and a leather-bound box of cuff-links. She then turned back to Harry, "Mamma and Papa are already here but are off getting some last-minute adjustments to Ginny and Gabrielle's dresses. My sister will be so happy to see you!"

Harry smiled remembering how much Gabrielle seemed to be smitten with him, but he noticed that Hermione and Mrs Weasley did not seem to be as amused about it as he was.

Mrs Weasley pushed Harry and Hermione into chairs and plied them with cups of tea and was trying to get more information about what they had been doing for the last two weeks but Harry and Hermione managed to dodge and avoid her prying, at least for now.

The biggest advantage of being in the Burrow now was that with Black House closed it had become the de-facto headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. All news and traffic came though the house now, so they were in the hub for all reports and intelligence that Order had.

While the ministry was trying to supress the news, Azkaban had been stormed again and the small number of followers and Death Eaters that the Order and DMLE had managed to catch once again walked free. Even those the Ministry had held on suspicion of being supporters or sympathisers had been taken.

One such inmate was none other than Delores Umbridge who had been incarcerated since Harry had a hand in her conviction. She had received numerous visits from the DMLE who were still investigating the extent of her corruption. But now she was out, and Harry wondered what she would do now, he didn't doubt she would be plotting revenge against him.

Another shock had come from the news that Professor Burbage had been snatched from Diagon Alley after she published a paper on pro-muggle procreation to bolster the falling magical population. Witnesses said she was taken by masked Death Eaters after leaving the Daily Prophet offices and had not been seen since. The Order believed that she was dead, but had been unable to confirm it and her family were still hopeful she would return.

The Prophet itself was still managing to report the news, however Harry could tell that the Editor was being leaned on by Scrimgeour as the tone of the articles had changed and most stories contained veiled truths behind the Ministry Propaganda.

An article went into great detail about how the Ministry had managed to kill a Giant that had destroyed an old church in Lincolnshire and managed to contain the incident from the muggles. However, while the article didn't out right say it, the giant numbers in Britain was growing and they were causing havoc that the Ministry was barely managing to cover up.

"Enough of this talk!" Mrs Weasley said sternly and she slammed down the cutlery on the table for lunch and gave a sharp look to Bill, Fleur and Ron who had been filling the two of them in on all they might have missed. "Your father should be home soon, and your wedding is only a few days away."

Bill changed the subject quickly but gave Harry and Hermione and exasperated look, "Did you hear that we're not the only ones with upcoming nuptials? I saw Tonks in Diagon Alley while she was working, she said she and Remus were going to get married tomorrow, she looked quite happy you know, back to her bright pink hair and everything."

"Tomorrow!" Hermione shrieked excitedly, "Oh that's so good to hear, I was worried about them in the wake of…. Well they haven't had the best year have they."

Harry clenched his fists tightly until his nails dug into his palms, he knew they were trying not to upset him and their walking on eggs shells irritated him just as much as talking about the issue.

"We must discuss how you're going to attend the wedding Harry." Bill said quickly changing the subject for him with a look of understanding, Bill might not know Harry well, but he could read a room well.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked frowning, this was the first he had heard of it

"The Order thinks that you should go disguised." Fleur said, "So we need decided how you will do that."

Harry gritted his teeth, so the Order had been speaking about him and making plans and moved that affected him.

"Is it your intention to invite Death Eaters to your wedding?" Harry asked and only received horrified looks in return, "Your wedding is a gathering of your friends and family, even if there are sympathisers within your guests, I am not going to hide myself. I am not a coward."

"Harry dear you must hide yourself, it is too dangerous for you to be in the open." Mrs Weasleys said sounding a little frantic, "Better for you to be hidden."

"Why?" Harry asked, "Everyone knows that I will be there, even if I am disguised. My association with you all is very well known, you are a target because of that alone, disguising me will not change that. Even if I didn't attend they would believe I had and still target you to get to me. This way I am in the open and if anything was to happen then they can come straight for me rather than through you all."

Bill and Fleur exchanged a look, silently talking between themselves.

Mrs Weasley looked like she was about to argue but Bill nodded.

"Ok." Bill said finally turning from Fleur, "We did not agree that you should hide yourself, especially as seeing you will give people a boost of confidence in these dark times. But what you must remember Harry is that this increases the danger to all our guests. With you hidden they have deniability, they cannot reveal what they do not know."

That caused Harry to pause, to hear Bill state the risk so openly even though he had already debated it with himself, but he had already made the decision. No More. That had been his vow, his promise to be better and to fight.

Harry looked to Hermione and Ron and they looked equally cautious and unsure and he knew they were leaving the decision to him.

"I understand." Harry said finally, "But if you will still have me, I will attend as myself I will not hide my face."

"But..." Mrs Weasley began.

Bill held up a hand to his mother, "The decision is made. Harry is old enough to make his own decision and I will respect it. Harry is like family to us, both Fleur and I want him at our wedding. Dad will agree."

Mrs Weasley did not argue further but Harry could see that this would not be the last of this discussion, no doubt she would try and get Mr Weasley on side or would probably try and guilt Harry into changing his mind, but he would face that argument when it came.

Instead all through lunch she sat silent and was watching Harry and Hermione carefully, and she kept mothering them not letting them up from their chairs for anything.

Eventually lunch was over, and Harry was able to escape from the kitchen on the pretence of unpacking his stuff in Ron's room. Mrs Weasley had looked reluctant to see everyone leave the kitchen but she had to do something in the Orchard for the wedding.

While the Weasley has lots of bedrooms given the number of children in the family, there still was not enough room for everyone.

Mr and Mrs Weasley were staying in the Master Bedroom, they had tried to give it to Fleurs parents, but they had strongly refused and said they would be happy in the Twins bedroom where Winky had apparently been able to remove the smell of gunpowder from the room. Ginny was sharing with Hermione and had resisted every attempt from her mother to bunk Gabrielle with her. The Delacour sisters were staying in Percy's old room which had been unused since he had left the family two years before.

Bill and Charlie were happy sharing as they always had even when they were younger, which left Harry bunking with Ron like normal.

As Harry and Ron made their way up to the top most floor of the Burrow, it became very evident that the Weasleys now had a House elf, not that the house was dirty or unclean before, but elves had a way of cleaning that no witch or wizard could compete with.

"Sorry about her." Ron said quietly as they walked up the stairs, "She won't let it drop you know, the only time she leaves me alone is when I am asleep."

Harry gave him an apologetic smile, "I haven't made things easy for you mate."

"Not your fault." Ron shrugged, "Its this bloody war. I caught her looking at an old photograph the other night, she was crying to herself, so I went and got dad. Apparently, everything that has happened as brought up old memories of her elder brothers."

Harry remembered the stories that Alastor and Sirius had told him about the Prewitt twins, they were much like the Weasley twins and had been killed but had gone down fighting valiantly.

"How's everything else here?" Harry asked, "Any trouble?"

"We are being watched, that's why Bill reinforced the wards here." Ron told Harry as they went into his room, like the rest of the house it was immaculately clean but given how Ron never put things away still messy. "This wedding is a nightmare though! Never knew so much work went into one. Mum and Fleur are like Generals and you dare not cross them over it all. Dads been quiet, he had the flu, so he was bed bound for a few days, but he is back on his feet now but not a hundred percent yet."

That was odd, he hadn't heard that Mr Weasley was ill but assumed Ron just hadn't thought it worth mentioning seeing as it was just a trivial dose of flu, however what was odd was that Mrs Weasley hadn't cured it, it was a simple remedy after all and should not have lasted so long.

"Where is your stuff then?" Ron asked as he lay down on his bed, "better make a show of putting it away in case mum comes to check on us."

"Hermione has all my stuff." Harry told him, "She will bring it up once she is done."

Ron groaned, "if mum hears her coming up she will have us out in that garden and orchard with nail scissors cutting the grass. Has she spoken about her parents at all?"

"No." Harry said surprised he asked, "you?"

"I know she has sent them away, but she hasn't said anything else." Ron frowned, "she is just fixated on us being ready."

That was true, Hermione had raided Black House of everything from toiletries to saucepans, and blankets to ancient robes, she was at her best when she was busy, so he had left her to it.

"Hermione said you had done something." Harry said quietly in fear of Mrs Weasley being outside the door and hearing what the plan was. "To explain your absence should it be noticed or investigated."

"Oh yeah." Ron said his gaze flicking up to the ceiling, "I would show you, but dinner is soon, and it would make you lose your appetite it does every time I see it."

Harry laughed loudly at the thought, it seemed impossible for Ron, who was ruled by his stomach to ever lose his appetite. "What on earth could make you lose your appetite?"

A clang came from the ghoul that lived the Burrow attic having been disturbed by Harry's laugh.

"That." Ron said pointing up, "The Ghoul. It's all arranged, Me, Fred, George, and Bill worked to transfigured him. He now resembles me, or he is as close as we could get him. The idea is to put him in here were we leave and claim that I have Splattergoit. Not sure how I will get rid of the smell when I get back, but we will have to see."

It didn't take a genius to work out his plan now, the family would be protected as the magical disease was highly contagious and it deformed the carrier and even eats away the vocal cords, so passing it off as Ron could work as no one would want to chance getting close.

"Who came up with that?" Harry asked.

"Me." Ron said jabbing his thumb at his chest, "He wouldn't let me sleep one night and then the idea just came to me. Dad was a bit unsure but once me and my brothers were done he was on board."

The door to the room opened and it caused them both to jump up guiltily thinking they had been caught talking and not unpacking as they were supposed to be, but it turned out to only be Hermione and they sank back down again with a sigh of relief.

She handed Harry his rucksack of the things he needed for his time at the Burrow, "Here you go Harry, I have your trunk with the rest of the stuff we will take. Ron have you packed what you want to take? We need to be ready at a moments notice"

Ron gave her a bewildered look "the wedding is three days away, I have plenty of time to pack."

Hermione huffed and gave Ron a lecture which only made him smile and watch her fondly while Harry shook his head and unpacked some of his clothes and he thought it would be a surprise if Ron had packed but had just said that to get her to lecture him.

Dinner that evening had been awkward, Mrs Weasley had apparently tried to appeal to her husband and elder son on the matter of Harry's disguise but neither of them had agreed with her and she sat with them at dinner with puffy eyes that made Harry feel sick with guilt that his decision had such a impact on her.

However, the atmosphere was improved by the Delacour's who were happy to see Harry and spoke at length about what was happening in France and Gabrielle started a conversation with Hermione about Beauxbatons where she had apparently attracted a lot of male attention.

"The National Convention is divided on the issue of your dark lord here, no doubt this was engineered to keep us out of your fight." Mr Delacour told them, "However you can expect no help from the International Confederation, while they believe that this cannot be left unchallenged they are unable to agree how to intervene. There is also the fear of reprisals should they try and meddle."

Harry shook his head, he despised politics. This was not his arena he didn't have the patience for it, in the past he had always followed Sirius's example.

"But I read that the ICW was deeply involved during the Grindelwald Wars." Hermione pointed out "There is also the risk of magical exposure, the MACUSA had serious fines and conditions placed on them due to their failure to uphold the Statute of Secrecy."

"You're not wrong Hermione." Bill agreed with a fond smile, "however Britain was a key member and leading nation of the Convention. Most nations were affected by the Grindelwald wars and do not wish to see more magical blood spilt so they are allowing what amounts to a civil war ensue and to see what happens. There has also been no breach of the statute of secrecy, not yet. Either the Ministry cleans up the mess or the Death Eaters leave no survivors."

"But that contravenes the charter of the ICW!" She exclaimed "What good is a multi-national government body if it doesn't do anything to help the people is supposed to protect!"

Everyone in the room laughed, it wasn't truly funny, but she was also describing the British Ministry of Magic but also the French National Convention of Magic.

"There is also another issue for the ICW." Mr Delacour warned, "It is not common knowledge but Gellert Grindelwald has been found in the deepest dungeon of Nurmengard, he did not die in the Death Eater attack as we were led to believe. None have been able to explain how he was not found when the prison was swept after the attack, but he is still there now."

Everyone looked shocked, Harry's breath caught in his throat and the glass he had been holding fell from his hand and shattered on the floor.

"Harry dear are you alright?" Mrs Weasley asked, "Your as white as a sheet."

"Fine." Harry lied, he had not told his friends about his abduction, "Sorry don't know what happened."

He flicked out his wand and with a shaky hand which he stilled through sheer wheel and with a wave of his wand the shards levitated into the air and reformed into the glass and he set it back onto the table.

Harry silently cursed himself for his lack of control, but hid his shaking hands under the table and out of sight of Hermione and Mrs Weasleys piercing eyes as they were watching him carefully. He wanted to be sick he could feel where Makos had inserted the needles into his back.

"Has he said anything?" Ron asked breaking the awkward moment.

"No." Mr Delacour replied, "according to one of my contacts, they did find remains of someone within the dungeons but it was heavily disfigured by some dark magic. The ICW investigation into the prison is ongoing but whomever saved Grindelwald is also at large and many believe in league with him and the fear him more than they fear the dark lord here."

Harry breathed, his secret was safe but if the ICW kept digging then they might uncover just what killed Makos and then find out who did it. The magic on the rings he wore must be recognisable, they had such a long history there had to be records which could lead to an investigation.

The rest of the evening came and went, and Harry barely spoke, he kept thinking about his time in Nurmengard and his torture at the hands of Makos and the help he had been given by Grindelwald and what he had done in order to escape his cell.

He truly regretted what he had done, it had not been his intention at all and he wondered if there was much different between him and Voldemort now. They had both taken a life, was Harry's soul intact now? Or was it split much like Voldemort's.

So wrapped up with these thoughts was Harry, that he did not sleep well at all and he was plagued with vivid dreams where he relived the torture and watched as the family magic burned Makos to a living husk before his life ended.

 **o-HP-o**

Even tired from his lack of peaceful sleep and the horror of his dreams Harry had woken and left the Burrow early and managed to get passed Mrs Weasley to travel to the house he had gifted to the soon to be newlyweds.

The house was at least eighty years old as could bee seen by the old red worn bricks, but it was well built. Even though the property had once been a muggle residence before Sirius had bought it after school, the garden was dotted with plants that were obviously magical, inside it was homely if a bit spartan as the couple had yet to buy all the furniture they needed.

Remus had been sour faced when Harry had arrived, and he smelt the distinct smell of Ogden's fire whiskey on him. And he looked up and gaped at seeing an annoyed Harry at his door.

In no time at all, Harry had forced Remus into the bathroom and had Dobby go and get a few choice potions to help cure him of the hangover and get him on his best foot. Remus was nervous wreck while he was getting ready and kept muttering to himself, but Harry wasn't going to let him loose that nerve as he obviously did truly love Dora.

One of the biggest issues that Harry couldn't fix was the large presence missing from the room who should be there to help and make sure that Remus got down the aisle. The lack of Sirius could be felt painfully by both of them even if they didn't speak about him, yet Harry felt sorry for Remus as he had lost everyone now.

Eventually it was time for them to go to Tonks family home for the ceremony and Harry had laughed as Remus all but run out of the door in his haste to see Dora before promptly trying run back inside saying he had forgotten something he couldn't name.

Harry had chuckled and grabbed Remus by the arm and took him by side long apparition, he was worried that in his current condition Remus would probably have splinched himself and that was not how this wedding was going to be remembered while Harry was on watch.

Remus had wanted it to be a very small wedding, originally only Andromeda, Ted and Harry were to attend but his future wife had other ideas and had secretly invited others, yet she still kept it small and intimate.

All the Weasleys except Percy had come, along with Hermione and Fleur, and to Harry's surprise Professor McGonagall had arrived with Alastor Moody.

"What are you all doing here?" Remus asked in shock.

"You didn't really expect us not to come did you?" Ron asked him curiously.

"You are our good friend Remus, of course we are here to celebrate your wedding!" Hermione explained, and she allowed Ron to guide her to a seat.

"Did you do this?" Remus asked Harry who was stood next to him as his best man but before he could answer Professor McGonagall answered for him

"You see Remus, you are not as alone as you think you are. You need to remember that others do not see your condition but see a man and their friend." She told him before she took a seat.

Remus looked stupefied and didn't know what to say, Harry put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"She isn't wrong Moony." Harry said quietly, "You are among friends and family today."

Remus didn't argue and if anything, he did look happy to have them there, but he was agitated now and had begun to sweat, he was bouncing on his heels and fidgeting like a small child while eyeing up every possible exit.

When the music started provided by a gramophone he turned quickly and looked panicked and just when Harry thought he was going to try and run-away Dora stepped into sight and he stopped and relaxed.

Tonks had worn as very simple outfit of ivory and gold, her hair had been curled and held up with diamond stars and hanging from her neck was fine silver necklace with moonstones. She had a trail that matched her dress that was clasped around her shoulders by silver ravens which marked her as a daughter of House Black.

The ceremony was simple and short which was what the bride and groom wanted as Dora had to return to work that evening, but they made sure that they had taken photographs of everyone and given a toast to the new couple.

With the wedding over they returned to the Burrow where Ginny and Fleur were soon whisked away by Mrs Weasley and Mrs Delacour to be locked away inside the living room for a final dress fitting and to have another practice run of how they would do their hair for the wedding.

Leaving the boys to make their way up to the Orchard to clean up any fallen apples and to erect the large marque and place the flooring for it, something that took the boys almost three hours to do.

Dinner that night had been very loud as it normally was at the Burrow, the kitchen was filled with laughter as they were served a tangy chicken dish with salad and potatoes courtesy of Winky. The only person missing from the table was Percy.

He was still not on speaking terms with his father, but he had been providing the Order intelligence for over a year, Bill had invited him to the wedding, but they did not know if he would attend.

"Your birthday is only a week away Harry, did you want to do anything?" Mrs Weasley asked him as they were served some homemade ice cream with wild berries.

"No." Harry said firmly the smile from the dinner lost from his face in an instant, "I don't want any type of fuss, I would rather we didn't mark the day."

The looks he received made him shift uncomfortably, he wanted to leave the table to escape their pity.

"But Harry you will be seventeen!" Ron said excitedly and reminded him that he could use magic legally.

"I have been able to use magic legally for a year Ron." Harry reminded him, he had gained that ability the year before due to his heritage and being sole remaining member of his family.

"Oh yeah." Ron said dumbly having forgotten.

"You will also become Lord Black-Potter." Mrs Weasley reminded him.

"Don't you think I know that." Harry snapped harshly he felt like he couldn't breathe suddenly, and he received a lot of surprised looks from the Weasleys. He got up leaving his ice cream untouched, "Sorry, but I really don't want to talk about it."

Before he could leave the kitchen a sad Winky stood in front of him.

"Young Master has not finished his pudding?" She said and looked distraught, "Is Winky doing wrong? Would Master Harrison be wanting his favourite Treacle Tart?"

"No, it was fine Winky, I just have no appetite." Harry said it sounded harder than he had wanted it to, but he walked by and out of the door.

Once outside Harry found his breath once more and he walked out into the garden and found it very unfamiliar in its current state, but it was peaceful. He sat himself at the base of a gnarled old apple tree and closed his eyes to try and calm himself.

Why didn't his friends listen, he didn't want fuss or to discuss certain painful topics. He knew that he should have kept his temper in check, but his blood was boiling just from a mere comment. Breathing deeply Harry began a calming exercise to get his temper under control, but as he sat he felt a web of magic over the garden.

Concentrating on the magic he tried to identify what it did, and he did what could only be described as watching and listening he examined the intent of the magic, it took him a good five minutes to work out what it did.

It was a deterrent ward, used to keep household pests away from a place. To confirm he was correct Harry walked to the edge of the garden and looked over the wall and saw a couple of Gnomes, but they were unable to pass the ward.

Snorting at the lengths Mrs Weasley was going to for the wedding preparations he returned to his seat under the tree.

His scar was prickling and irritating him now, what Voldemort was doing Harry did not know but since he had left Hogwarts their connection had become more stable much like it had been during his fifth year

"Harry?" Said the tentative voice of Mrs Weasley.

Opening his eyes, he saw her standing in front of him looking very worried, and he felt immediately guilty.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have snapped at you Mrs Weasley." Harry told her.

"Don't apologise Harry dear, I understand what it is that you're going through." She said sadly, "I lost my brothers in the first war, I was inconsolable for weeks after. If it had not been for my children I do not know if I would have coped."

Not sure of what to say Harry looked at her with a cocked head, it was the first time he had ever heard her mention Fabian or Gideon.

"We will not mention your birthday again." She told him giving him a reassuring look, "or other recent events. But remember Harry everyone here does care about you."

Tears rose up in his eyes and Harry turned and looked pointedly at a far-off point in the garden looking out over the wall and could see the large orchard in the distance.

 **o-HP-o**

The next morning everyone was put to work for the wedding, with the additional protections cast over the Burrow it meant that the family had to work even harder as they had to transport things through the wards.

As Harry and Hermione were not keyed into the wards like the Delacour's, something which they believed Bill had done on purpose to give them some breathing room to do what they needed, they finally had the perfect opportunity to finish their preparations to leave.

Alastor had come through for them and got them a pint and a half of Polyjuice potion, the twins had barely batted an eyelid when Hermione gave them a list of products she wanted from their shop. Harry had wanted to get to Gringotts, but Bill warned him against going as the security no longer allowed disguises to enter and he would have to queue for almost three hours to get to his vault, even with his type of account.

The last thing of the hardest things they needed to get was a stock of potions, and since they couldn't go and buy them they would have to brew them, so while everyone was busy getting the orchard ready Harry and Hermione had gotten everything they would need to brew them their selves.

While Ron distracted Mrs Weasley by causing an accident in living room, Harry and Hermione had snuck out of the house and found refuge within Mr Weasleys shed which was filled with his large collection of muggle-made objects. It was the safest place to go as Mrs Weasley did not like to go inside the shed as she didn't approve of her husband's obsession.

Hiding themselves at the back of the magically expanded shed behind a long shelf filled with an assortment of over forty muggle wirelesses that Mr Weasley had seemingly become fond of, they set up four cauldrons on a large table and began to brew.

It might have been their first time brewing more than a single potion together, but they knew each other and the potions more than enough to work together and barely need to verbally communicate. Each of them knew what the other was doing and what the other could possibly need at each step while still concentrating on what they were doing.

So, engrossed on their task they did not hear the shed door open and jumped when Mr Weasley popped his head around the shelves.

"I had wondered where the two of you had gone." He said pushing his glasses up his nose and he peered into their cauldrons, "Ron said you had both gone into the village on an errand, but I didn't think he was being entirely truthful and his accident didn't seem entirely accidental either."

"I hope we are not in your way Mr Weasley." Hermione said blushing at being caught in a lie but didn't pause in cutting up her ingredients.

"No not at all, in fact your being here allows me to give you a few things." He said, and he began to riffle through the shed looking for something for a few minutes before he pulled out a tangle of ropes and canvas. "Perkins let me keep his tent after the Quidditch World Cup, his lumbago has gotten worse. I assume this is all part of your preparations?"

"Yes." Harry said, "Ron knows what we are doing but potions is not his forte, so we are brewing while he…er…well…why he distracts Mrs Weasley."

Mr Weasley did not look upset at the deception at all, in fact he looked slightly amused, but he sighed.

"I know the three of you intend to fight, but am I right in saying that you have some type of mission?" He asked them pointedly, "I might not be a potions master, but I can recognise potent healing potions well enough. You also wanted a tent, so I am assuming you intend to leave the Burrow and I have noticed other bits and pieces have gone missing from the house too."

"We are." Harry answered looking up at him briefly before looking back down at the bubbling cauldron, "I cannot tell you what we will be doing, not because I don't trust you but because to know what we are doing could be dangerous. If news of our plan was known, then it could fail."

His words were accepted, and he did not argue, Mr Weasley fingered the ring on his hand and his hand was shaking and he had to sit down as he had turned pale. "Each of us has a part to play in this war, I do not know if we will win or lose but for the most part my role is to protect my family. Yours Harry is to protect our entire community, a great burden for one so young, and one that I would lift if I was able, but I do not believe anyone other than you can accomplish it."

It was not a happy thought, and Mr Weasley did not sound pleased by his own words but sad and resigned and regretful. Harry tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he didn't know what the future held for their community, but as he looked at Mr Weasley his smile turned into a concerned frown.

"I know you would and thank you Lord Weasley, but I fear that you are perhaps in no condition to fight. You're ill."

It was a statement, not a question.

Mr Weasley was caught off guard by his words and looked ready to deny his claim but deflated with a sigh and looked incredibly tired, "I…I am." He admitted, "my bites might have healed but the healers have yet to find an antidote to the snake's venom, no doubt enhanced through dark magic. I have been under constant observation and ongoing medical treatment, but my body is becoming immune to some of the potions and the poisons become retardant over time."

Hermione gasped, "oh Mr Weasley! I had no idea!"

"That is what I wished." Mr Weasley told her, "Other than the two of you only Bill knows the extent of my condition. Molly knows I must keep taking potions but nothing more, but she has guessed or at least suspects there is more. However, I want the two of you to promise you will not tell Ron. This war will make a man out of him, I have seen that, he had a role to play and I will not strip him of that even if it will save him from pain."

"But…" Harry said but Mr Weasley spoke over him sternly.

"No! You need him, the three of you together will see that this war ends. I know this. If Ron knew I was ill, he would feel that he could not leave us and then he would tear himself apart as the two of you go off and fight."

Mr Weasley did not say any more on the subject and turned away and began to tinker with one of his radios while they sat there exchanging looks, it was very dire and unexpected news, and could they keep such a thing from Ron?

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Three**

 **The Weasley Wedding**

With the Wedding only hours away from starting, Mrs Weasley was up and ordering everyone around like a Master Sargent. She had the men all awake early and marshalled them down into the kitchen so that the ladies had free reign upstairs and she served the men breakfast while the ladies were served by Winky upstairs.

She might have been in good mood, but it had not stopped her crying hysterically three times, once over Percy not being there, another for Bill getting married and then the third had been because she was so happy.

Her good will however did not extend to Charlie who she had trapped to his chair while he was eating breakfast with a full-body-bind and then had gone on to brutally chop his hair short all the while he was protesting and asking for help from his family.

Instead of helping him Bill had instead placed a silencing charm on him so that all he could do was glare at each one of them and looked like he might murder his elder brother before his wedding, but Bill merely smirked at him.

Once breakfast was over the men were all allowed back upstairs to have a bath and get dressed and the girls were locked back up again to prevent them from being seen or disturbed. Mrs Weasley had gone so far as to place charms over the doors to prevent the twins from using extendable ears, which they discovered much to their disappointment.

There had been a fight over the Burrows bathrooms as everyone wanted to get in and get ready, only Bill had been allowed to bath without a fight seeing as it was his wedding after all but for all the other men in the house it was Pandemonium. However soon enough, with a bit of intervention from Madam Delacour and Mrs Weasley they were all clean and dressed.

The men of the Weasley brood were all dressed in identical black dress robes with neckties in the House of Weasley colours and their cufflinks bore their family lion Incal and the coat of arms. Ron had almost caused Mrs Weasley to have an aneurism when he thought it had lost a cufflink only to eventually find it in his pocket.

Hermione had also caused a slight panic when Harry and Ron couldn't find their belts and she had come running upstairs in a dressing gown and her hair up in a towel with them in her hand, for some reason they had been in with her and Ginny's washing.

Once all the Weasleys were dressed and their hair was fixed properly and to her standards she suddenly burst out crying for the fourth time that morning at seeing them all look so grown up and handsome, but she quickly ushered them out of the house into the garden to allow the girls to all get ready and move about.

She then went one by one to each of them making changes to their robes or correcting the way something sat, with each of them she managed to find some type of fault and the sons and husband allowed to potter-about as it made her happy all the while they were rolling their eyes at her.

Harry had escaped her mothering, dressing to such a high standard came naturally to him now as he often had to do it over the last two years. Although this time he didn't have Kreacher or Dobby there to help and he did miss their assistance and commentary, instead he just stood at the kitchen door watching the Weasleys feeling rather lonely.

He had dressed in his own robes which were of a slighter finer material and off a different cut and style, yet that didn't stand out to him it was the difference in house colours and his own cufflinks bore his quartered crests.

As he fingered the cuff of his robes he thought back to the shopping trip where he had fought Sirius over who should buy them, it was such a stupid argument and he wished they could have another one just like it one more time.

"Hey Harry!" Said an excited voice that startled Harry.

He saw two young boys dressed in trousers and shirts of obviously muggle design, but while short in stature that did not stop them both smiling broadly.

"Colin! Dennis!" Harry said surprised, "What are you two doing here? The wedding isn't for at least two hours yet."

"Ginny hired me." Colin said proudly, and he pointed to the bag that his younger brother carried and was handed one of his cameras, "We are photographing the entire wedding!"

Harry smiled, pleased that Ginny had thought to ask Colin who Harry knew hoped to find a career in photography in the wizarding world.

"Be sure to not only take the formal photos but catch those special lazy and casual ones too." Harry told them and then whispered, "If you can, try and get some to embarrass the twins."

Dennis and Colin exchanged an alarmed look at the thought.

"We couldn't do that!" Dennis shuddered, "They will never leave us alone!"

Laughing Harry shook his head, "Don't worry about the Twins, if they ever come after you because you caught them in an embarrassing moment you point them in my direction."

Dennis went wide eyed but nodded eagerly instantly relieved and eager to do as asked.

"Colin dear, do you think we can start with the boys?" Mrs Weasley called, "if we leave it too long they will resemble ruffians."

"Mum!" The boys moaned rolling their eyes.

"Not a problem Mrs Weasley." Colin nodded eagerly and hurried forward with his camera in hand and got them to stand in a line. While Dennis took out another camera ready to snap other pictures.

"Oi!" Fred shouted loudly, pointing at Harry. "Don't think you're getting out of this!"

"If we have to have our photos taken then so do you!" George added narrowing his eyes at Harry as if to dare him to try and run.

Harry took a step back and shook his head, "This is a family picture."

"Harry get over here will you." Ron said rolling his eyes.

Trying to retreat was pointless before any of the Weasley men could do anything Mrs Weasley was on him in seconds.

"Harry dear will you get in line, if you don't I will drag you over there by the ear." She told him sternly, it was the tone she used when one of her own children misbehaved and having it aimed at him moving which only made the Weasleys laugh loudly.

Blushing bright red Harry hurried across the lawn and stood on the very end of the line feeling very much out of place and like he was intruding, however it was all for nothing as the Twins, Charlie and Ron bundle him into the very centre and surrounded him and was reminded that they were a very tall brood and he stood pouting.

Colin and Dennis were busy clicking away getting both the official photographs but also ones for the family, capturing those funny and memorable moments.

Once their pictures were all done, all the men were sent sternly away from the Burrow to the Orchard up the lane where the flag above the marquee which bore the lion Incal of the House of Weasley blew in the wind for all to see.

The orchard had been transformed, in the centre there was the large marquee draped in silver and light purple silk drapes over the flat polished wooden floor. The marquee was filled with golden chairs on either side of a deep purple carpet which led to the front where the bride and groom would be wed.

The support poles were entwined with white and gold flowers which gave off a subtle fresh fragrance, the canopy above was filled with gold and dark red balloons which were partially hidden behind the enormous floating silver chandelier.

Outside the orchard had been freshly mown and raked, the edges of the clearing decorated by large flower pots and benches and each tree on the border was hung with lanterns. A bar area had been set up in one part of the orchard and in another a stage had been laid where the musicians were setting up their instruments.

A little over an hour later the Creevey boys had been sent up to the Orchard to continue taking photographs and slowly guests began to arrive wearing all manner of colours and started to form a procession up the lane towards the marquee.

Due to the wards surrounding the property, the Weasleys had to escort their guests over the invisible barrier and allowed them to walk leisurely up to orchard where they were served drinks by the waiters.

While the Weasleys were getting people seated Harry stood off to the side under a disillusionment charm watching. He had offered to help but had been told that it was entirely improper for him to do it, so he had to watch and laugh as the Weasley boys led all manner of people inside.

"I am not going to all this trouble when I get married." Fred said tugging at his collar and pulling out a hip flask and taking a swig, "I will place mum in a body bind and then admit I eloped."

"Agreed brother of mine." George said, and he snatched the flask from him and took a sip.

"Do you think Percy will come?" Ron asked them sweating slightly in the afternoon sun and Harry summoned him a cold butterbeer, "He was invited."

"Don't know." George admitted, "If ever he was going to pull his head from his arse it would be for his big brothers wedding."

"Since when did Percy have common sense?" Fred laughed, "Could have spared mum tears on Bills big day though."

Then there was another pop and crack signalling the arrival of more guests and the three younger Weasley boys groaned in unison and then began to set off down the lane to the boundary, half way down however they exchanged a lot of words before all but sprinting towards the boundary.

Harry watched curiously, wondering why they had been bickering and it was on their return that the answer didn't become any clearer immediately.

A very smug Fred came back leading the Lovegoods, Xerophilous had been completely unaware of Harry's presence but Luna had stopped and looked at him and given him a wave and smile which Harry returned, he wasn't at all surprised that she could see him it was part of what made her Luna after all.

Next had come an almost dancing George with the newly married Lupins and on seeing them Harry dropped his charm and walked up to meet them.

"Remus, Dora." He said truly happy to see them even though he had only seen them a day ago, "I am so glad that you could make it."

"Wotcha cousin." Tonks said as he dropped his charm and she gave him a firm hug, "This puts our wedding in a whole different light doesn't it."

"Not at all." Remus said defensively, "You were all I needed to be happily married."

Dora laughed and lay her head on his shoulder contently, "It was hardly a high society wedding, but it was perfect for us. Molly driving you crazy yet? If mum had thrown this type of wedding, she would be unbearable."

"I can imagine." Harry chuckled thinking of his Aunt Andromeda.

"Better show us to our seats Harry." Remus said, "We are holding up those behind us."

"Sure." Harry said, and he pulled out a seating plan from his pocket and led them into the marquee, out of the corner of his eye he looked at Remus was deep in thought and looked worried while Dora was positively glowing and smiling happily.

"This is for you." Remus said out of the blue and handing him a small box, "don't look at it today, it's for your birthday."

"Its fine." Harry said waving it away, "I didn't want to celebrate anyway."

Remus looked at him hard for a moment before pushing it back towards him, "Take it, please."

Harry looked at the simple box and frowned but decided to do as he was told and pocketed it and quickly escaped the Marquee as he was attracting a lot of attention and he wasn't yet ready for the schmoozing.

As he stepped outside he was just about to cast his charm once more when he came face to face with an elderly witch who a sour faced Ron leading who gripped his arm tightly. She had a very serious face, with a beaky nose, red-eyed and a long neck wrinkly neck that made Harry immediately think of Aunt Petunia, he could imagine her looking like this old witch. Dressed in a pink feathered hat and wearing purple embroidered robes and had ancient looking rings on her long thin fingers.

"….what was Molly thinking holding a wedding in an orchard, smells like cheap cider! And your hair Ronald! It needs to be cut, or you need to grow it out like a proper wizard ought, your generation has lost all sense of decorum." She barked at Ron and he rolled his eyes in exasperation and she suddenly saw Harry and her eyes raked him, "And who is this?"

"Oh." Ron said frowning feeling it odd to have to introduce Harry to anyone. "Harry this is my Auntie Muriel. Auntie this is Harrison Black-Potter."

"Are you now!" She cackled looking at him more closely, "I was hoping to meet you here, thought Ronald had been merely boasting to inflate his worth when he said he was friends with you."

Keeping his face neutral Harry smiled politely, "No I can assure you Madam Prewitt that Ron and I have been friends since our first day on the Hogwarts Express."

"At least you hold to the traditions of our country." She nodded, "Ronald you shook take note of your friend, you might just find yourself a witch of consequence." She then drew herself up proudly, "I have been instructing the bride on how to wear my tiara, the finest goblin-wrought tiara in the country I will have you know. A Prewitt family heirloom! The girl is good looking I grant you, but French! If my father was alive he would die of embarrassment."

Harry raised a brow shocked by this woman, he looked Ron for help but received a roll of the eyes and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

Muriel almost caught the roll of his eyes as she suddenly turned to him and shouted, "Ronald what are we waiting for! I am a hundred and seven, I need to sit down and be sure that I am given a good seat!"

Ron gave Harry and apologetic smile and gleefully led her inside the marquee and a few minutes later he returned looking very much relieved.

"The twins are gits leaving me with her." He growled, "she is a nightmare! Mum scarpered after we arrived, even she cannot stand her! Used to be that she came for Christmas, but she took offence to the Twins setting off a dung bomb under her chair and she never came again. Probably wrote us out of her will just for laughing but still it was worth it. Luckily we only see her at funerals or weddings now."

More guests began to arrive, including Hermione who Ron could not stop staring at every time he saw her, and Harry hid his smile has he saw that Hermione was blushing from the attention, but he became stony faced when Viktor arrived.

"Viktor!" Harry called in welcome, and the gripped each other's arms "I wondered if you were going to make it, the Quidditch season is starting up."

"I managed to get away." Viktor said happily, "Fleur would not be forgiving me if I had missed her wedding! Hermione, you look wonderful." He said paying her a compliment.

"Fleur and Harry didn't mention that you were invited." Hermione said blushing scarlet now, "How are things in Bulgaria?"

"The Scandinavian moot is in uproar, we are not even sure if the Quidditch world cup will go ahead." He replied sounding very disappointed, "we are determined but we still require the backing of the international committee and the support of our ministry."

Viktor was causing a stir from within the marquee and George came outside to get him settled as far aware from the French Veela cousins, no doubt to try and improve his own chances with the beautiful ladies.

The amount of people attending the Wedding was a surprise to Harry, while the Weasleys were not the most influential or wealthiest family they were obviously well liked by the community. However, he saw a number of the members of the Houses in attendance too and he greeted them himself. Despite being labelled blood-traitors to the families like the Malfoys and the Death Eaters the wedding was still very sizeable.

Eventually Molly and Arthur arrived along with Madam Delacour and everyone hurried to their seats while waving at their guests and everyone was happily chatting waiting for the bride to arrive while Bill and Charlie appeared up the front, white roses in their button holes and laughing at something.

They had to only wait for a few minutes before the band started to play signalling the arrival of the Bride and then they all turned to get a look at here and everyone, witches and wizards alike gave a collective sigh as she entered.

Fleur was radiant, and she smiled happily at them all as she stepped into the marquee. She was wearing a simple white dress that was embroidered with silver thread and mother of pearl, her hair was elegantly curled and atop her head sat a diamond tiara that sparkled.

Normally her Veela allure made emphasised only her own beauty and any other person within the allure were considered plain, but today as she stared at Bill the allure cast a light on everyone, causing everyone to look beautiful in her glow.

She was escorted by her father who looked very proud and was all but dancing on the spot and smiling broadly, he was happy seeing his daughter so happy.

Behind the bride walked Gabrielle and Ginny, both wearing dresses of gold and holding bunches of flowers. Each of them looking beautiful. As a part veela herself Gabrielle also had an allure however it was weaker than her elder sisters, yet she didn't seem to be using it today, as the attention should be on her sister.

Monsieur Delacour walked her down the purple carpet to the podium where Bill stood waiting with Charlie beaming behind him. When they reached the podium Fleurs father placed his daughters hand in Bills and then the small ceremony official spoke from the Podium.

"My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen." He said in his stiff toned voice, "We are gathered here today…."

Harry sat and smiled as he watched Bill and Fleur get married, Hermione next to him was crying as she watched, and Ron offered her a handkerchief that he seemed to have planned to give her.

The ceremony itself was not entirely different from the one he had witness with Dora and Remus, the only difference was that Bill had conjured a white lace cloak with a silver lion clasp. It was a ceremonial symbol of bringing someone under the protection of an Ancient House and the family magic, when in truth it would require a small private ceremony to complete bring the bride under the protection of the Incal.

With the ceremony over the balloons overhead burst, doves flew away, confetti rained down on them all, and magical bells chimed signalling the new Mr and Mrs Weasley and the band immediately began to play some upbeat music.

"My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen" The official called once more, "If you would all stand and give an applause for the newlyweds!"

As one all of the guests and family stood and began to clap as the Bride and Groom kissed, as they did the chairs they sat on disassembled and the walls of the marquee rolled up showing off the orchards and opening it up to the evening air and sky. A wooden floor began to seep up through the ground under the centre of the canopy and new tables with white table clothes began to magical appear around the marquee and the seats reformed around them.

Waiters and servers also poured into the marquee carrying large silver trays filled with glasses, bottles and food.

"Oh that was lovely!" Hermione squealed giddy, "Shouldn't we go and congratulate them?"

Harry looked over to where the Bill and Fleur stood and the long line of people trying to get to them.

"Nah, look at that queue of people!" Ron snorted, "I mean its only my brother! We can congratulate them at any time. They are family after all. Let's get a table."

They followed Ron for a moment before he suddenly changed direction and dragged them with him.

"Okay there are some rules, we do not go anywhere near Aunt Murial, do not look at her or merlin forbid call her over." He said sternly "That woman is a menace and we want to have a good time not be lectured by an old bat."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, and then she added to Harry in a low voice, "which one is she?" So, Harry pointed her out to her and she rolled her eyes, "I get it now, we met this morning when she arrived. She just glared at me and said 'oh she is the muggle born, can always tell, it's the skinny ankles and the look of confusion in social situations'."

Ron snorted, "yeah that's her all right, although she didn't pick holes in Harry. Give her time though, the nights still early."

They found themselves a table and they set themselves down.

"You know Harry, you will have to go through all this one day." Hermione said thoughtfully, "I don't know how you will do it, you don't have Bills patience."

Harry gave her a small smile, "Don't worry Hermione, if I ever marry I don't plan on arranging it I will leave that to you and whoever becomes my wife. I will just turn up at the end and say my lines."

Ron roared with laughter, "You have the right idea there Harry."

Hermione groaned and shook her head and muttered "Men!" which only started an argument between them both and he quickly excused himself to run to the bar and let them fight it out.

Ducking outside the marquee he saw the that people were milling around the freshly cut grass and the bar had gained a large queue, he was about to walk over when he saw a red headed man walking away from the marquee towards the lane that led the boundary.

"Percy?" Harry called shocked.

The exiled Weasley brother turned and sighed.

"Harry." He acknowledged, "I was just leaving."

"Don't you want to speak to your family?" Harry asked, "they are right inside, I know your mother will be pleased to see you, she was upset you didn't come this morning."

Percy looked pained but didn't budge "It is better this way. I couldn't miss Bills wedding but I am not yet ready to see them all."

Harry looked at him, and behind him he heard the sound of Mr Weasley laughing and Percy looked sincerely regretful.

"I know it is probably hard to face them, but they are your family Percy, if anyone can forgive you for something it will be them." Harry said quietly, "You have come this far, why not take a few more steps?"

"You sound like Lord Black." Percy said, and he saw Harrys face momentarily flinch at the mention "Sorry, I didn't think. It's just you sound a lot like him."

"I'm not surprised." Harry said smiling sadly, "Family was important to Sirius, his own were awful so he made his own and tried to hold on to them. Your family might be angry, but you still came to see your big brother get married, and he still invited you. Surely that means something?"

Percy looked at him for a long moment and then looked towards his family inside and then his eyes hardened and his jaw set.

"No."

With that last word Percy turned on his heel and left and Harry watched him walk away and he wondered what exactly was going on in his mind. He obviously still cared for his family, yet he couldn't face them. Was it cowardice or pride? Harry wasn't sure which, but he hoped that Percy would pull it together before it was too late.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't realise that he had stepped straight into a crowd of people around the bar and drew their attention.

Something that he instantly regretted as he was quickly assaulted by the many guests who were also there who recognised him and wanted to speak with him or get his views or just wanted him to listen.

"When will the Lord of House Potter return to the Wizengamot?" an older wizard asked, "Its been a long time since we had one attend, since your father first attended we have been without the one of the Leading light families to stand up for what is right."

Remembering his lessons from Sirius, he remembered that it was common to label the three parties light, dark and grey although it was a broad categorisation and one Sirius did not approve of. He also knew that his family had more often been grey than light over the centuries.

"I am not sure." Harry said smiling "of course it will only happen once I turn seventeen as I am not yet a Lord, however I have yet to receive the schedule for the upcoming Wizengamot meetings. So, when is my first meeting you ask, my reply is that you know more about it that me!"

Withdrawing from the bar quickly before they could corner him with even more questions he managed to get three glasses of iced rosé and hurried back to the table with them levitating in front of him.

"Not fun is it." Viktor laughed intercepting Harry and nodding towards the bar. "They never warn you about fame."

"In my case I was unlucky enough to be almost born with it." Harry pointed out sourly, "I don't mind talking with people with actual points to make but most of what they were saying was nonsense."

Viktor gave him an understanding look and nodded towards a group of four girls who were fluttering their eyes lashes at him and giggling. It took him a moment to realise that it wasn't just at Viktor but also himself.

"They are also a nuisance." He said with a roguish grin, "But they are also fun, you just have to know how to handle them."

Harry chuckled and left him to pursue some of Fleurs distant part veela cousins and wondered how Viktor dealt with it as he had blushed bright red.

When he returned to their table Harry was surprised to find Ron and Hermione huddled together and he was pointing out his various relations, the Weasley family was very vast and confusing.

"That's dads brother, Samwell. He moved away to Canada, so we don't see much of him really, his sons round here somewhere with his boyfriend I think." Ron said pointing at a wizard dressed smartly with thick long wavy red hair and a light beard. "he was the youngest, Dads other brother was uncle Billius! Now he knew how to have a good time, he would get so drunk that he would…Hey where have you been, I am gasping here!"

"Sorry." Harry muttered taking a seat and putting the drinks down, "I got waylaid by your brother's guests at the bar."

"What's this?" Ron said picking up the glass and turning his nose up, "What happened to butterbeer?"

"Its only Rosé Ronald." Hermione said taking a glass and having a sip, "its really nice, its fruity."

"I will stick to butterbeer." He said giving the drink and offended look.

"Fine." Harry said rolling his eyes and he flicked his fingers towards a server to attract their attention, intending to summon them over, instead one of the bottles on the girl's trays came soaring towards them and he managed to catch it without spilling any.

Putting it on the table he looked up to see both of his friends staring at him open mouthed.

"How in the name of Merlin did you do that!" Ron gasped, "I didn't know you could do Wandless magic."

"I can't." Harry lied, and he shivered which had nothing to do with the iced drink he was holding, "Must have been accidental magic..." He quickly took a large gulp of the sweet wine to distract himself.

Ron looked like he wanted to say something more, but Hermione silenced him with a look having noticed him go pale and his hand shake slightly.

Harry could remember what happened the last time he had used that type of magic, he could remember the sight of Makos turning to stone, the smell of the calcification and the horror of what he had done, he felt bile rise in his throat and he had to swallow it back down.

"Didn't expect to find you sitting on the sidelines Harry." Neville Longbottom said joining them.

"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed, "I didn't know you were here."

"I arrived late, my plus one took her time getting to me." Neville shrugged, "Fred escorted us in."

"Oh, did you come with Hannah?" Ron asked looking around, "You two are a thing now, aren't you?"

"No." Neville laughed, "we didn't work out, especially me being away on the Exchange, I am kind of with Sue now."

"Susan Bones?" Ron asked incredulous, "Your dating Hannahs best friend? You are defiantly a Gryffindor."

"Hannah was the one who pushed us together, especially since everything with her aunt." Neville explained, "But the two of them are off out of the country for the summer, the Abbotts wanted to take Sue away for a while."

Everyone looked at each other but didn't say anything, they all knew that the death of Amelia Bones had hit her niece hard, Harry especially sympathised with her, but Sue was strong.

"So, if you didn't come with Bones who did you come with?"

"Just a friend." Neville grinned, and he looked side long at Harry. "So why isn't our most eligible bachelor dancing this evening? Not scared are you Harry?"

"No!" Harry said glaring at Neville, "I am just not in the mood to dance, I am content just siting here and enjoying the company of my friends."

"I will take that as a challenge then." Said a voice behind Harry.

He didn't turn to look who it was, he knew from the first word just who was standing behind him and he gave Neville a traitorous look. His friends however were staring at the newcomer with surprise and confusion.

Harry turned around warily, she stood behind him wearing a dress of black and white, her arms were bare, and her long hair was free and curled, around her neck she wore a black diamond necklace that sat in the hollow of her neck and collar bone.

She was smirking at Harry who looked less than enthusiastic, but she addressed Hermione who looked confused by her being there.

"This necklace holds a glamour, it is an old Greengrass heirloom to disguise the ladies of the family." She explained, "Neville here was kind enough to allow me to accompany him, in the interest of future alliances with House Weasley I thought I should attend the wedding of the future Lord Weasley."

"Perfect political double speak." Neville snorted, "the truth hidden under it so well it could only have been spoken by the Lady of House Greengrass."

"So, Harrison will you treat a lady to a dance?" Daphne said offering her hand to him.

"Do I have a choice?" Harry asked his own amusement lightening his tone.

"No." Daphne said smiling now.

"Have fun Harry!" Neville sniggered unashamedly.

"You will regret setting me up Neville." Harry promised as Daphne pulled him away from the table onto the dance floor and the music changed into a faster tune.

Once on the dance floor all Harry could do was look at Daphne and lead her through the dance, all around them people were dancing and those that weren't were a blur as he only had eyes for her and her for him.

"Why is it that I can see you for you?" Harry asked while they were close to each other, "That glamour doesn't work on me."

"Of course not." Daphne said simply, "The glamour works only on those who I want it to work on. Granger and Weasley saw it for I wanted my appearance to be a surprise, I didn't hide my face from Neville either."

They danced for a long time, the music changing from different styles and they moved into the various dances each without thought as they were enjoying each other's company. They were in the middle of a faster dance when suddenly Harry stopped after having his foot stamped on.

"Merlin!" Daphne cursed suddenly embarrassed and her hands had gone to her mouth in horror, "I am so sorry Harrison!"

Harry however looked at her horror and roared with laughter, it hadn't hurt at all but her shock greatly amused him and her annoyance at him as he laughed only made him laugh louder.

"Isn't funny!" She snapped primly looking around nervously as everyone was watching them.

"It is." Harry managed to say, "I am glad to see that you are flappable, and not always so perfect."

"Your making fun of me." She said haughtily.

"Maybe a little." Harry admitted, and he kept a firm hold of her hand and began to lead her again, "Although perhaps next time I should place a protective charm on shoes to protect them."

She glared at him in response and stuck out her chin, "It is rude to make fun of a lady."

"It is." Harry acknowledged, "But how often is it that the Great Ice Queen, Daphne Greengrass does something so clumsy."

"Only with you it seems." She said her mouth twitching into a smile.

They danced for a little bit longer before stopping.

"Do you want to get a drink?" Harry asked her.

"Sure." She said, and they walked out of the marquee where they passed Dennis with his camera, "Those photos better not end up in the news paper."

"They wont." Harry promised, he knew that neither Dennis or Colin would sell any pictures of him, he trusted them as did the Weasleys.

Daphne went to the bar and managed to get a whole bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Do you fancy a walk?" She asked pointing in the direction of the orchard.

"Sure." Harry said, and he took her by the arm and they walked off together, George noticed him while he was talking to one of the Veela cousins and he flashed Harry a large wink that made him blush.

"I was worried about you." Daphne said once they were under the trees and the music grew a little feinted, "Neville said you were missing."

"I was but I am back now." Harry said tensely, "you were worried about me, I thought I was merely a political move for you."

She looked at him suddenly and frowned, "I think we both know you are more than that."

Harry didn't respond, a part of him was tense and wanted to run away from her but the larger part of him was content to stay with her.

They came to a small clearing and Daphne stopped, "Lets sit."

Harry looked down at the ground and then at her and smirked.

"You want to sit here?" He asked, "But its dirty and covered in leaves."

"I think I have proven before that I can rough it when needed Harrison." She chastised, they both remembered when they had sat at the edge of the Black Lake at Hogwarts.

"Oh no, I am not going to let you tell people that Harrison Black-Potter is not a gentleman." He said mockingly, and he flicked out his wand and with several flicks conjured a large blanket and an unnecessary number of cushions all of which were in the Gryffindor colours. "Now that is much better."

Daphne rolled her eyes at him which only made Harry laugh as it was so unladylike like of her, however before she sat down she swished her own wand and changed the colours of the cushions and blanket to an autumn brown.

Snorting Harry sat down with his back against the tree and rested on a plump cushion and poured them both a glass of wine. It was very fruity and tasted sweet and wondered if it it was Daphnes favourite or just what the barman had.

They spoke of nothing of consequence as they sat in the clearing, just talking about small things and joking and enjoying each other's company. The wine had been drunk quickly and they could have refilled it with magic but didn't feel the need. Daphne lay with her back against his chest and her head on his shoulder.

"I wish it could always be like this." She said contently, "It is so peaceful."

Harry wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer.

"I know." He said quietly, "right now the war is far from here, I can forget about it and not worry about the future."

She turned and looked up at him with a feint smile.

"These are the moments were must live for." She said sadly, "You once said something similar."

Harry didn't remember saying it, but she wasn't wrong, "Even in the darkest of times and places, even the smallest of things can make you hopeful for the future."

"Even the smallest spark can start a forest fire." Daphne said, and she reached up and pulled Harrys head down and kissed him.

Harry didn't resist her pull, he kissed her and was surprised by how deep and hard she was pushing him, and it only made him do the same in return. Without thinking he pulled her up onto his lap and they continued, it was unlike any kiss they had before.

The wine was sweet on her tongue and he could taste it and her and they were both breathing heavily.

Pausing for only a moment to catch his breath Harry reached for his wand and cast a net of magic around them to ensure they were not disturbed or seen. Before the last spell had truly taken effect, Daphne pushed him on to his back and leant over him.

Her hair cascaded down and blocked out the orchard around them and all he could see was the black diamond star that was on her neck and for a time the world disappeared, and they had no care for what was happening outside the realms of the enchantments.

An hour later, Harry and Daphne walked back through the orchard towards the marquee, neither of them spoke but they were content to walk in silence and hand in hand, the stood for a moment at the very edge of the orchard and looked over the clearing where the guests were moving around, and Harry could see people dancing under the marquee canopy.

"I should go." Daphne said reluctantly, "I need to return home before father notices that I am gone."

"He didn't know you were coming here?" Harry asked her concerned, "where does he think you are?"

"With Tracey." She said, "She will cover for me if father questions her but even she doesn't know where I am."

"Would you father be angry?" He asked her, wondering what Lord Greengrass would say about the two of them.

"Yes." She admitted, "Not because he doesn't like you, in fact he had encouraged…. its because of the war. My fathers want the family to stay out of it all."

"I understand." Harry sighed, he didn't want her to go but he wanted her to remain safe, "Our relationship only endangers you and your family. You must protect your family Daphne, I understand that."

"I know you do." She sighed, and she withdrew her hand from his and leant up and kissed him on the cheek, "Goodbye Harrison."

Harry stood still and didn't move, and he watched her walk away and then she paused and looked back, and he saw a single tear fall down her face and then she rippled like a mirage and her appearance changed into a blonde woman with heavy eye make up and high cheeked boned face and then she hurried away.

Returning to the marquee he found that his former table was empty apart from Hermione's beaded bag and he looked around for his friends and to his surprise he found them dancing together happily.

He suddenly felt very alone, standing there watching everyone have fun and enjoy themselves, although he didn't begrudge that it was just he walked a different path now.

A server came up to him offering him a drink, he declined the wine or mead and instead picked up a bottle of butterbeer, he had drunk too much already and didn't think it was a good idea to push it.

Looking around for a way to distract himself he saw an old man sitting alone and looking into his own glass of some amber liquid, and Harry suddenly recognised him from an old photograph that Moody had showed him.

"Mr Doge?" Harry enquired, "You are Elphias Doge, aren't you?"

"Mr Black-Potter!" He said sounding delighted, "I had wondered if I would see you here, please sit!"

"Thank you." Harry smiled and sat down next to the man, "There is something that I would like to ask you about."

"Oh?" Elphias said, "Well ask away, we are not getting any younger are we."

"You knew Albus Dumbledore, well didn't you?" Harry asked, "I saw the obituary you wrote for the Daily Prophet."

"I certainly knew Albus the longest, if you don't count Aberforth or Professor Bagshot." He consented, "Why do you ask?"

"Last year I went to Durmstrang and learnt about his duel with Grindelwald however they say that he delayed that fight and refused the cries for his assistance." Harry said, "That does not sound like the Professor Dumbledore I thought I knew."

"What you must understand is that at that time Albus had already devoted himself to teaching, he was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor back then. Albus was not an auror or hit wizard so why should he be called on by the community to fight?" Elphias said, "MACUSA had managed to capture him until he escaped and return to Europe and gained a larger following and even more power. No Albus only when he could."

"So, he didn't delay facing him?" Harry pushed.

Elphias was quiet as he considered his words, "It is true that Albus could have stopped him much sooner than what he did, and many people could have been saved. However Albus did not, and I admit I don't know why but he would have his reasons, and he fought him when he could."

Harry wondered how much truth there was to his words, they were coloured by the mans obvious fondness for Dumbledore. Something still niggled at Harry and he tried to find a way to ask it without giving away he had spoken to Grindelwald.

"I have heard talk that they were acquainted with one another." Harry lied, the truth was when Grindelwald spoke of Dumbledore he sounded familiar. "Had they met before they duel?"

"No!" Elphias snapped, "that is an old baseless rumour from way back when. Sorry but people have begun to speak a lot of lies about Albus in the last year. Did you hear that Rita Skeeter is writing a biography on him?"

"No but I can imagine it is at least three parts fabrications and one part truth which her own interpretations of it." Harry said waspishly, he was not a fan of Rita Skeeter.

"Indeed." Elphias said and he seemed pleased that Harry at least understood that.

"I barely knew him." Harry said sadly, "It is only since his death I realised just how little I knew and there is much that I wished I had asked him we mainly only talked about me, makes me feel selfish."

"I am sure he knew you cared for him." Elphias consoled, "Albus devoted his life to teaching the next generations of magic, that was his call-in life for it was a role he fulfilled for hundreds of students over the years and he has taught you well."

"I hope he has taught me enough." Harry said thinking on the memories he had left, the path he had set before Harry, "He never made it easy."

Elphias laughed, "No he didn't, Albus always said that the journey is just as important as the destination, a lesson his father taught him when he was young. Sometimes people need to find the answers themselves to truly understand a learn something."

Harry had been watching the dancefloor as he spoke and watched as Luna had stopped her odd dance and her smile had gone to be replaced with a concerned frown and she walked towards the closest flap in the marquee and looked up at the sky blankly and her frown deepened.

"Excuse me." He said quickly, and he left a confused Elphias at his table and approached Luna who still had not moved.

"Luna?" He said quietly, "What's wrong?"

"There is a change in the wind." She said in her dreamy voice, "A Stone has been thrown into water and the ripples are spreading out." She then pointed off into the distance, "one is coming straight for us."

While Harry did not confess to understand what Luna meant, most of the time his friend could was very odd, but her words often did have a deeper meaning. Right now, he just knew that he should not ignore her, while she viewed the world differently he would not dismiss and obvious warning. That was why he without conscious thought flicked his wand into his hand and scanned the night sky and the orchard for any threats.

Suddenly he saw something speeding across the night sky, a bright blue-white light that was heading straight for the marquee. Before he could think of a spell to block whatever magic was about to cross the boundary he stopped, recognising the light as that from a Patronus.

It must be a message from the Order and if they were sending it now something must have happened, Luna might just be right.

Harry turned and looked at guests and they danced, laughed, and drank, everyone was happy and unaware what was coming. It was like he was watching them in slow motion, trapped in a single moment as everything was about to change.

The patronus soured through the tent and immediately the music stopped, and everyone turned to watch it looking alarmed.

It solidified from a gaseous ball into a blue lynx that spoke with a easily recognisable deep calm voice.

"The Ministry has fallen, they are coming."

It fizzled into to nothing, but no one moved.

"What are you waiting for!" Harry shouted "Go!"

Panic and reason returned, the guests began to run around trying to get out of the tent and were pushing each other to get away or find those they came with. Others who came alone immediately disapparated leaving the Burrow behind them.

Suddenly Bill and Mr Weasley called out in shock clutched their hands where their house rings sat, and then there was flash of light and an odd sound before a large collective crack echoed around the marquee.

The lights outside were extinguished in an instant and everyone in the marquee froze, yet even through the darkness there looked to be movement in the orchard.

"We're surrounded." Harry said quietly and with a swirl of his wand he extinguished the lights within the tent so that they could see out. At the same time shield charms were cast by the Order to protect the guests while others began to shout and panic as they could no longer disparate and realised they were trapped.

A flurry of red spells suddenly shot through the darkness towards the Marquee, some found their targets while others hit the various shield charms and Harry was shoved painfully by middle aged wizard who tried to get out of the way of a stunning spell.

The spell fire continued, the wedding party could barely move in the Marquee and it restricted their field of vision within the orchard while their attackers had the advantage. While Harry concentrated on maintaining shields around as many people as possible while he looked for Ron and Hermione but couldn't see them through the tight packed guests.

Two men stormed into the Marquee through one of the side panels to Harrys left and he watched as Luna protected her father from them with the help of Fred. Harry tried to get back to the edge of the Marquee so that he could better fight and see when he suddenly heard Hermione.

Even over the shouting and panic he heard her voice through it all. Clear and concise and suddenly a spell blossomed within the Marquee and was sent shooting up into the canopy and sent the entire thing shooting into the night sky like an open parachute.

With the Marquee gone the guests were able to spread out a bit more within the protective circle of shield charms that had been erected, and Harry got a good look at what they faced.

No fewer than thirty people surrounded them, some wore black robes while others he saw wore the distinctive red robes of the auror office.

One of the black robed people suddenly pointed through all of the guests directly at Harry, "He is there! Get him."

Everyone that had been near Harry suddenly parted realising that they were not the target and Harry stood unmoving surrounded with a party of innocent people and other capable allies near him.

This would be an interesting duel he thought to himself.

An auror stepped forward, she wasn't an auror Harry was familiar with, but he recognised one of her companions as Dawlish who has been stationed at Hogsmeade last year.

"Harrison Black-Potter you are under arrest." She said, "Surrender your wand and come peacefully and the others will not be harmed."

"On what charges?" Harry demanded, "and under whose jurisdiction."

"The charge is treason and by order of the Ministry of Magic. Relinquish your wand and spare those around you from any harm." She told him he wand trained on his chest even as Harry kept his own pointed hers, he could tell she was reluctant to attack him. He guessed she was just following orders.

"Dawlish what are you doing." Dora demanded seeing him standing next to the auror speaking to Harry, "We are on the same side."

"Auror Tonks." He acknowledged, "The DMLE has issued a warrant for his arrest, we are following our orders of the new head auror."

"I was not aware that there was a new head of the DMLE." Harry said calmly as his eyes darted from person to person for any sign of a threat, "Tell me who signed this warrant."

He received only silence in response.

"Then I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request." Harry said firmly, "I know that Scrimgeour is dead. I can guess who gave you this order and I am sorry I have no intention of surrounding myself. If you are foolish enough to try and take me then go ahead, but on your own head be it."

"You condemn everyone here in your arrogance!" The woman stated angrily, "You cannot possibly stop us. Come with us now, we are trained aurors all of us, you are just a boy who doesn't know what he is facing."

"No?" Harry smirked dangerously, his blood was pumping round his body, he felt like every pour on his skin was tingling waiting for what was to come.

Her wand twitched minutely, she was moving to use magic against him, but Harry acted faster and nonverbally. His wand whipped around his head and he flicked it up in the air in their direction and the female auror, Dawlish and their companion were thrown up into the air before he hit them with another spell that bound them in dark purple ropes that would only tighten the more they struggled and then they fell to the floor.

As Harry had sent his first spell so too had all the others who surrounded the guests. And they began to try and apprehend anyone who they could get their hands on but if they thought they had the numbers then they had not accounted for the numbers of Weasleys each of whom were equal to most of the aurors, four of whom Harry had taught himself.

Then of course there was the other members of the Order of the Phoenix in attendance, the guests would not be arrested without a fight.

Harry caught sight of Ron and Hermione fighting together while protecting a group of younger guests and angled towards them. His wand did not stop moving, his spells lashed out at anyone in his way, he blasted his way through people he wasn't aiming to maim or incapacitate his only intent was getting to his friends.

If the ministry was now under Voldemort's control, they needed to flee immediately and draw the attention away from the Weasleys and the Order.

Before Harry could get to them two more aurors got in his way and they were not taking any chances with him and they duelled fiercely, they had seen his skill with a wand and had recognised him as a formidable adversary so were taking no chances with him.

As they duelled he watched them block his spells with strong taxing shields, they had glimpsed the power of his magic and weren't going to be caught unawares now. Equally they were using their own powerful spells against him which made Harry rely on equally powerful shields which he did not like to do given the innocent people surrounding them.

He could not allow a spell to slip passed him just as he couldn't use his more powerful arsenal of magic for the same reason.

With brutal strength and determination, Harry worked with the stronger members of the Order to push their attackers to one side of the Orchard while others rounded up those who could not fight and protected them behind the Orders fighters.

The wedding guests were placed under the charge of Ginny, Luna, Colin and Dennis, they could each fight themselves, but Remus had ordered them to protect the guests above all else which they did if reluctantly on Ginny's part.

Realising that they had lost their advantage their attackers banded together and tried to overwhelm them through a directed assault much like the exercises Harry had conducted with the DA, which wasn't surprising as he had gotten the idea from a book on auror training.

The Order and defenders were forced into four groups, Harry found himself with Charlie, Viktor and Remus, it took them five minutes to gain the upper hand but with the dark magic that Viktor, Harry and Remus knew, and the various dragon taming spells Charlie had then overwhelmed the aurors shields and had them bound and disarmed were about to move on to the next group.

Remus grabbed Harry by the arm before he could move on to help, "Harry! Find Ron and Hermione and go!" He shouted, "We can hold them off, but you must get away from here before reinforcements arrive."

"I can't!" Harry snapped, "I will not run from a fight."

"You must!" Remus growled his calm eyes glowed briefly with specks of amber in his anger. "You have to get away from here. This is not the fight you must win, that will come later, live today to fight tomorrow."

"I-" Harry went to say but he went cold suddenly and then he heard the scream.

A strong piercing scream that made the hairs on his arms stand up on end and magic poured through his body and his blood burned for vengeance.

"Tonks!" Someone screamed and both Harry and Remus turned both pale and pushed their way through the crowd as their attackers used the distraction to their advantage and tried to apprehend people.

The crowds parted before Harry as his magic reached out and pushed them aside, so he could get through with Remus close on his heels.

"No!" Harry growled seeing the black robed man before him, he did even think he sent a black evil spell at him and it bypassed the hasty shield and caused him to spit up blood before another spell was sent at him by Remus and he was thrown up into the trees canopies and did not come back down.

Tonks fell from the air from where she had been held, but magic caught her, and she moved through the air towards Harry and Remus as they hurried towards her. Remus scrambled to the floor to check on her when she landed gently while Harry stepped in front of them protectively.

Harry was silent, every inch of his body was shaking with uncontrollable rage and his mouth, and nose twitch and he wanted to growl deep within him. As they saw him many of the trained aurors looked at him suddenly with genuine fear.

"Remus stay with Dora." Harry said in a quietly calm voice, their attackers wouldn't hear him, but Remus's enhanced hearing would, "Get her away from here the moment you can, get her to her mother. Do not argue with me."

"What is your plan now boy?" Another aurors asked, "You cannot fight us all."

"You have no idea what I can do." Harry said projecting his voice to them all, "Do you know who I am?"

They exchange a look with each other wondering what he was talking about, they of course did know who he was.

Harry wasn't fazed by their looks, his scanned their depleted ranks and stared down each and every one of them making many of them shift uncomfortably. In his peripheral vision he saw that he had been flanked by two people and he didn't even need to look to know it was Ron and Hermione.

Somewhere behind Harry there was chanting in unknown languages, he guessed that Bill and Victor were working on bringing down the ward that trapped them they just needed time to achieve it.

With a mere thought he connected himself to the deep ancient magic that was defined by the blood of his family, and the gemstone on the Potter ring glowed dangerously and the air was thick was magic that was spreading out in waves around Harry.

Drawing on more of that magic Harry's eyes lit up and glowed a brilliant bright green.

"I am the last son of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter." Harry said, and his voice had grown deeper under the magics influence and every syllable hit like a hammer, "You have attacked those than fall under my protection, you should leave before I enact a blood price from each of you."

"Parlour tricks will not keep us out boy." The auror said determinedly "the power of the houses has waned, there is a new power in this country now."

"Do you think that He will share power with you?" Harry laughed dangerously, and he directed the magic to encircle their attackers to intimidate them and make them apprehensive and many of the twitched and looked around in horror and some shivered at its touch. "you serve a dark wizard who only cares for his own power, he will not be restrained or contained by any law or rule except his own. You are a fool if you think you have the upper hand against me, the power of the griffin may have been forgotten but if you push me you will remember it before it takes your life."

"Enough of this, get him." The auror shouted pointing at Harry.

Harry created a shield to surround them all and the shield was further strengthened by Hermione and Ron to become a blended shield having realised what he had been doing and what his plan was. The shield was assaulted with powerful magic, curse upon curse was sent at the shield which was managing to hold back the onslaught of spells, but it was burning through the raw power Harry was channelling into it.

"Voldemort will not win this war!" Harry shouted at them.

Suddenly there was a flash of orange around them and the chanting behind Harry abruptly stopped as the ward burst like a balloon.

"The Ward is down!" The aurors shouted "Quick before they flee!"

"GO NOW!" Harry shouted and there was a great number of pops and cracks behind him as the remaining guests all left, and Harry staggered as the spells hitting his shield doubled in strength in desperation and the vein in his temple pulsed as he had to pour more of his own power into it while his friends were tiring next to him.

"Harry, you have to go!" Remus begged as he picked up Dora in his arms before he twisted on the spot and left.

"We will kill every one of you blood traitors!" Shouted one of the black robed men and a killing curse was sent across the orchard only to be blocked by the prone form of one of his fallen brethren.

"Is that so." Said a calm voice.

Mr Weasley stood, his robes were rippling in an unseen wind and his eyes were glowing bright blue and tribal marking appeared over his skin and his voice became deeper and older.

Fred and George quickly ran to the last of the guests who were the Creevey's who were too young to apparate and had yet to learn how, "Quickly now" George said as he grabbed hold of Dennis while Fred took hold of Colin and disapparated.

"Kill him!" The black robed man said pointing at Mr Weasley only to be struck by a curse by Bill.

"You dare attack the Lord of House Weasley in his own home!" Mr Weasley said harshly "You will do no murder here!" He stepped through the shield that Harry, Hermione and Ron were holding and stood in front of them.

" _Avada Kedavra_!" An auror screamed and then suddenly there was a great white flash of blinding light.

Harry went to intervene even while blinded but before he could do anything he heard Hermione cry out next to him "Activate!" And he felt the ground under him move as he was pulled sharply away.

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Four**

 **A Change of Strategy**

The deadly green light was gone, so too were the Weasleys and their attackers. Harry and Ron were sent hurtling to the ground as a portkey spat them out. Caught off guard by the portkey yanking him away Harry barely kept himself on his feet and cursed as his ankle twisted.

Having been caught completely unaware and had already been mid-stride when the portkey activated Ron was less fortunate and was sent barrelling across the new-found grass and his wand fell from his hand as he raised them to protect his face and he looked furious.

"No!" He shouted looking around wildly as he got his bearings, "We have to go back! My family is in trouble!"

Hermione had managed to stay on her feet ran to Ron and tried to restrain him, but she was crying shakily as she did it.

"We can't!" She cried, "They are safer with us gone, going back will only endanger them further. Think Ron!"

Harry didn't know what to do, his ankle was throbbing painfully, and he could barely support his weight on it. His body was trembling as his heart was still pumping furiously but he kept himself calm and scanned the open grassland they were on for any sighs of their enemies.

"Get off me!" Ron growled, and he managed to throw Hermione off him and he dived for his fallen wand.

"Ron! No! Harry! Help!" Hermione said beseechingly.

Realising the danger immediately Harry's wand moved, and he summoned his friend's wand. The wand slipped through Ron's outstretched fingers before he could grasp it and flew straight towards Harry who caught it easily.

Having managed to only grab a fist full of dirt and grass Ron reeled around and cast Harry a murderous look which made Harry take an involuntary step backwards into a defensive stance.

"You!" Ron roared, "Give me back my wand! My dad could be dead! My family tortured! We must go back! We cannot leave now!"

Harry saw the anguish in his friends face and he felt guilty knowing it was his fault, but he knew Hermione wasn't wrong they couldn't go back, it would only put them in more danger.

"I get it, they are your family but if you go back now you will make it worse not better." Harry said trying to sound calm even though he was anything but. "We are on our own now. They have each other and will protect each other."

"Harry is right Ron." Hermione sniffed wiping her tears away with a trembling hand, "we can get a message to them, but we must trust that they will get themselves out of trouble and that the Order will protect them."

Ron was breathing deeply like a wild animal about to charge, he got to his feet and Harry stood warily not knowing if his friend would attack him.

"Did they…." Ron tried to ask but the words died in his mouth.

Harry exchanged a look with Hermione.

The killing curse had been cast by the Death Eaters, but they did not know who its intended target was or where it had hit, something that did not comfort either of them and worried that it might have hit someone they cared for.

"No." Harry said trying to sound confident, but his face gave away his doubt, "Your father will be fine Ron, Bill was there to protect him."

Ron walked away from them and moved under the shadow of a tree and after a moments hesitation Hermione joined him and left Harry alone in the dark.

Content on being alone with his own thoughts Harry sat down on the cold hard dirt and began a cycle of calming exercises to try and get his heart to calm down but his imagination was screaming threats at him in every shadow and each rustle of a leaf was a hidden adversary.

Fifteen minutes later Ron and Hermione walked back, and Harry saw his friends swollen eyes and knew he had been crying but made no comment on it, he wasn't sure what he would say anyway it's not like they knew if anyone was dead.

"We need to regroup with the order." Ron said, "we shouldn't linger in the open."

"I agree." Hermione said, "But we shouldn't make direct contact with the Order, if the Death Eaters have truly taken over the Ministry they could all be being watched."

"What about a talking Patronus?" Harry said looking between them with a frown noticing the closeness between them, "they can't be tracked."

"No." Hermione frowned considering it, "Bill taught me how to do it, but wouldn't that be as bad as opening talking to them?"

Ron shook his head, "We don't need to send them an actual message. The message is that we are alive, all we need to do is send our patronuses…patroni…whatever the plural is! To somewhere that they will see them."

"That could work." Harry agreed, "Mine is well known, but yours is known only to the DA, the three of them together is the message. Although your father will know your alive Ron, the family magic in his ring is connected to you even now."

"But it wouldn't tell him about you two." Ron pointed out gruffly, "the two of you are like family to us."

"We should do it once we are settled, our mission is to get the Horcruxes, however I still don't know how many of them there are." Harry said, and he saw the looks of hesitation on their faces, "I do however know where two of them are and for now they are safe. Gringotts for now remains under the control of the Goblins."

"So how do we discover how many there are?" Ron demanded, "You-No-Who wouldn't have published it in the Daily Prophet."

"I know." Harry said sharply, "We know the Diary was one, the locket and the cup were also Horcruxes. We need to try and find places that mean something to him where he could have hidden them while we try to discover how many he created."

"Well that's all well and good Harry but we still need to decide where we go from here." Ron said, and he looked around and shivered, it was colder here than in the Orchard, "How did you get us here anyway Hermione, where did the Portkey come from?"

"You both had them on you." She said guiltily and her eyes flicked downwards and Harry remembered she had their belts this morning, "two nights ago Bill made a comment about exit strategies in case the worse should happen. So, I planned one."

"Why didn't you tell us." Harry questioned, he was reminded of how she had been used to place a tracking spell on him by Makos and his mysterious organisation.

"They were a last resort." Hermione explained, "activated by my voice and command. I was going to tell you this morning, but I didn't have the chance in front of Mrs Weasley."

"Just don't do it again." Harry said trying to keep himself calm, his blood had gone cold now as he remembered his visit to Nurmengard and he thought the urge to rip the offending belt off and throw it into a flowerbed.

"Well it was a good idea." Ron complimented, "You're in the boss here Harry, so where do you want to start."

"Where are we exactly?" Harry asked curiously as he cast a binding spell on his ankle to allow him to walk on it more comfortably, "You planned to bring us here, so you must have thought it would be safe."

"Safe?" Ron snorted as he took his wand back from Harry, "Where is safe now that the Ministry is under his control?"

Hermione looked very uneasy by his words and led them across the grass towards one of the paths.

"Kensington Gardens." Hermione said, and she pointed at a large bronze statue of a boy surrounded by fairies playing a panpipe. "My parents brought me here when I was younger, I was obsessed by the tale of Neverland and the magic it contained."

"Neverland?" Ron asked dubiously, and he eyed the statue with suspicion, "What is he some type of male Nymph?"

"No." Hermione laughed despite her worry, "he is just a boy who never grew up."

Ron looked to Harry for a better explanation and Harry just gave him a look to say drop it. Their wands hadn't left their hands, and they were watching for any sign of movement in the gardens, their attire would make them stick out.

"So where is this?" Ron asked looking around, "Some muggles garden?"

"London." Hermione said crossly not liking his dismissive tone, "My thought was that we would be safer in an open muggle area that say in the middle of Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. The country is too large an area for Death Eaters to patrol its entirety, so it gives us breathing room."

As they continued to walk through the gardens quietly Harry thought about what had happened and realised that their mission would need to wait as he could see an imminent danger that required their immediate attention.

 **o-HP-o**

The Village of Ottery St Catchpole was blissfully unware of the fight that had broken out just out of sight of the main village square. Its residents were even mostly ignorant of the family who lived at the edge of the village, only a small number remembered the Weasleys lived up the hard to remember lane that led to their property.

So, the odd number of cloaked men and women who were seen walking through the village for no obvious reason raised several questions, but the villagers kept to themselves given the demeanour of some made them run away scared.

Lord Weasley and his son had managed to deescalate the fight having blocked the killing curse and causing a massive distraction thanks to a large supply of fireworks and smoke. Once the aurors regained control of the situation all the Weasleys were detained in their house and questioned for any information on the whereabouts of Harry Black-Potter.

The Burrow had been ransacked for any sign of the boy, but their scans revealed nothing, not a single trace of him or his magical signature. They had turned the house upside down looking for any contraband or further reason to arrest the Weasleys but could find none.

Realising that they were getting no where they had begun to interrogate them, and they had used all the resources at this disposal. The Twins had been subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques, Bill had been subjected to Legilimency while Mr Weasley had been questioned under Veritaserum.

They had been given no information to go off, the Weasleys explained that Harry was merely a guest of the wedding and that he fled during the ruckus. Their youngest Son had not attended the wedding due to being ill in bed which had been confirmed by Dawlish, and that the guests had only acted out of self defence due to these unsure times.

When the Weasleys thought the interrogations were only going to get worse three Patronuses were seen high above the village. A majestic stag, a swimming otter and an excited Jack Russell. They did not linger as they passed in corporeal form over the village and began to speed away north, but their arrival was not missed by the aurors who recognised the stag form.

Immediately the aurors began to leave the Burrow in order to follow the Patronuses to see if they would lead them anywhere with connections to Harry, while others followed a direct path south looking for their origin point.

Dawlish was the last auror to leave and slapped them all with official cautions and warned that if they were caught doing anything remotely against the new regime they would be arrested instantly and stationed a surveillance team on them all for any signs of duplicitous action.

Mr Weasley had to give his wife a powerful calming draught and put her to bed as she had become hysterical having seen her sons beaten and she was in bed being watched by Winky who had managed to hide all traces of her master right under the aurors nose.

"How is mum?" Charlie asked weakly, his own interrogation had been mild, but the fight earlier had tired him.

"I don't know." Mr Weasley admitted sinking heavily into a chair, he looked grey and all but dead on his feet, "For now we are relatively safe, Bill have you done a sweep?"

Bill stood protectively near his new wife who was tending to the twins who were only semi-conscious.

"Yes, they didn't leave anything to spy on us." He said tensely, "But we still must be careful, they will be following us most closely now. I took my In-Laws to Aunt Muriel's so that they were out of the way of all this, I am sure she won't mind so at least they have been spared this interrogation."

"If she does she can just lump it." Ginny said angrily, "So what do we do now?"

Without warning Mr Weasley slumped in his seat and was unconscious but was caught by Charlie.

"Dad?" Charlie called alarmed.

"Take him upstairs Charlie." Bill said tightly, his face filled with worry, "he needs to rest."

"But-"Charlie began to protest but saw the look his brother gave him and followed his order without further question, at least for now.

Bill looked around the Burrow and took in the mess and then the families condition before he looked at his only sister and spoke.

"For now, we must act like members of this new community, we are being watched for any excuse to arrest us." Bill said, "they know we are connected to Harry, and they will use us to get to him."

"But…"

"No!" Bill scolded sternly, "We know they are alive as those were their Patronuses, they are out there now with a mission. Do not ask me what that mission is for I do not know! But for now, they are on their own and we must protect them however we can."

 **o-HP-o**

When Harry had told Ron and Hermione what was on his mind they had agreed with him. While their mission was to destroy Voldemort's anchors to the realm of the living they also needed to ensure that the war was not lost before they had a chance of defeating him.

It had been Ron's offhand comment about nowhere being safe due to the Death Eaters controlling the vast resources of the Ministry of magic had made Harry think about the everyday witch and wizard and he couldn't allow them to be so easily controlled and oppressed.

So, the thee of them travelled like muggles through the heart of Westminster dressed as muggles on a Red Double Decker Bus. This borough of London not only housed the heart of the muggle government but also lay on top of the wizarding government too.

To be in the area was dangerous for they stood on top of the most dangerous place in all the country and the risk of detection was greater. However, Ron pointed out that being this close to the ministry was illogical, so it would be the last place they would be expected to be.

And in a city of millions of people they hoped they could just blend in with the crowd and not drawn any unwanted attention.

They needed to find a place which could function as their base of operations for their new-found mission, a safe place where they could sleep and plan without fearing discovery. Ron had wanted to use a muggle hotel, no doubt wanting the benefits it would provide but they didn't not have the means to fund a long stay at a Hotel. Harry did not currently have access to his accounts as they could not count of the Goblins discretion any more, and the money that Hermione had on her could only go so far.

Hermione had completely vetoed his half-hearted idea of using magic on unsuspecting muggles to allow them to stay in a hotel, Harry had thought Ron brave for even voicing the idea in front of her but there were lines that should not cross and that was one of them.

Instead, Harry had searched the nearby buildings surrounding the entrances to the Ministry and managed to find an empty Flat overlooking the old apparition point which was located down a magically cloaked alleyway.

Having found what, they needed Harry led his friends to the building and was happy to find they had come up with nothing.

"Its just through here." Harry said pointing to a doorway set back from the street, " _Alohomora_!"

The downstairs landing and stairs stank of rubbish, rotten food and urine and Ron and Hermione did not look convinced.

"What?" Harry asked them pointedly, "What were you expecting? This is hardly Black House is it"

"Is it safe?" Hermione asked looking around, "This looks like a doss house"

Harry and Ron both gave her an amused smirk.

"Why are you both looking at me like that?" She asked looking between them.

"You're a witch." Ron reminded her, "we have magic, of course it will be safe, at least from the muggles."

"We need to go up to the third floor." Harry told them and led them up the concrete stairs and tried to avoid the piles of rubbish and filth on the top floor there were two doors, one had an inhabitant from what they could tell, there was an odd smell wafting under the door and they could hear a television playing.

The other door was for the vacant flat and their new safe house.

Harry opened the door with magic and they stepped inside. It was decrepit, smelt of damp and had probably been abandoned for several years. It has some furniture inside it, all of it was rotten dirty and falling apart.

Its redeeming features was that it had a balcony and that the windows of the living room also overlooked the alleyway that was the ministry apparition point.

"This place is a hovel!" Ron said with thorough disgust, "this place is not fit to be lived in!"

Hermione crossed to the window and looked down and smiled brightly "no this is perfect, we can survey the employees coming and going from here!" She regarded the room critically and it was clear it disgusted her, but it didn't bother her as much as Ron, "besides this is no worse that Black House was two years ago."

Ron didn't look convinced but didn't argue further.

"Fine, I will see if I can clean this place up, mum taught me some of the spells to help clean before the wedding…. Can the two of you add some protections around the place?" Ron asked them and pointed his wand at around the living room and began to vanish the rubbish.

"Any ideas?" Harry asked Hermione.

"A few." She nodded, and she told him what she wanted to do, and they began to build a web of magic over the flat.

They cloaked the flat so that no one outside could see them moving through the windows and so that light was also not visible from the inside. They added a powerful perception ward over the balcony so that they had a safe place to apparate to and from without being seen and they enveloped the entire flat and balcony in a silencing ward, so they could not be heard.

Adding to the protection they had also placed an anti-transportation ward inside the flat to avoid surprise visitors, a muggle repelling charm was placed on the front door to keep the muggles below away too.

Ron had not been idle either, he had removed most of the rubbish, grime and even the bad smell that lingered in the flat, and when Harry and Hermione had finished they had joined him and made the flat at least habitable if ramshackle and dingy.

"Well that's as good as we are going to get it tonight." Harry said yawning, "We should sleep we need to try and get more information tomorrow."

"Do you think it is safe to sleep here?" Hermione asked as she pulled out pillows, blankets and sheets from her bag, "Do you not feel exposed?"

"We'll be fine." Ron said rolling his eyes and then his eyes went wide as he looked over their shoulders.

Harry and Hermione turned alarmed and their wands were at the ready but there was nothing there. But outside the window there was a bluish light heading straight for them and it passed through the

Glass and settled in front of them.

The gaseous substance solidified into a recognisable a small fox-like creature and it opened its mouth and the voice of Bill spoke;

" _The Family is safe, No casualties. We are being watched. Stay Safe_."

Ron let out a great sigh of relief and sank into one of the dirty arm chairs not caring that it was still dirty, and he sagged as the stress left him of not knowing about his family.

"They are safe." He said with smiling, but it fell suddenly, "Why did Bill send the message?"

"Ron." Hermine said gently, "you heard the message, your family is safe and there were no casualties. If you keep trying to find further meaning you will drive yourself mad."

"But…"

"She is right." Harry said, "trust your brother Ron, your family is safe now get some sleep for tomorrow we need to find a way inside the Ministry."

Sleep that night had not come easy to any of them as they lay on their conjured cots with the familiar smell of the Weasley and Black laundry products on the pillows and blankets but eventually they drifted off to sleep.

The following morning using Harry's invisibility cloak they took turns standing in the Alleyway and following the ministry employees as they went about their commute to try and learn whatever they can, while from the flat one of the others would watch through Omnioculars.

The surveillance was slow going and made them miserable, cold and wet but it did give them leads and some information that could use. Occasionally they would also follow an employee who was travelling to Diagon Alley where the brave employees or those with questionable loyalties would meet with friends or have lunch.

To relieve the boredom between their shifts the three of them had started to clean the apartment and fix up the old ruined furniture. It was not fun, but it kept their minds occupied so they didn't go mad.

What had once been the dining area in the living room was their primary planning area. The wonky enlarged table was strewn with notes and observations they had made during their stakeouts, the walls were covered with hand drawn diagrams, plans and other maps of the local area and muggle London.

Over the next week it was the planning table that you could most often find Hermione sitting at, going over everything, studying every detail twenty times looking for the best way inside. Apparition into the ministry was impossible, the entire building was contained in an anti-apparition field, portkeys were likewise not possible. They had thought the floo network might work but after a few days of surveillance they discovered all incoming floo connections had been severed.

That meant they had to enter through one of the official entrances. The visitors entrance would not work as it was guarded externally and the telephone box was too confined and would leave them exposed. Ron had pointed out the official's entrance through an old shop but had quickly left seeing as it was guarded even more thoroughly.

Leaving the employees entrance, it had seldom been used in the last two decades, but the Death Eaters were forcing the ministry workers to use it once more, so they concentrated on that entrance and how they could get through it.

In the ten days that they had been watching and learning one of the biggest hurdles had been learning how to employee's entrances worked. It had taken them seven days to finally understand how it worked and after that it caused them to delay their plan further as they realised what it meant they would need to do to get through the entrance and down into the Ministry.

One new step had been identifying people that they could impersonate inside but first they had to learn as much as they could about them, so they had the best disguises to get their jobs done.

Frustrated at their lack of action, Harry had moodily entered the dilapidated kitchen and had shocked his friends with his cooking abilities, Ron had been incredibly grateful as he had been unable to eat a bite of what Hermione had cooked the night before.

He had however noticed that Hermione would shoot him fugitive looks when he was cooking, she found his ability odd or suspicious, but she made no comment which suited Harry. He did not want her questioning that skill and where he had learnt it.

Tonight, as he cooked she wasn't paying him any attention which he was thankful for, instead she was busying herself reading through his notes from his day of watching one of their potential targets for impersonating but kept shooting looks towards the balcony nervously.

Harry didn't mind, he preferred her occupied as it turned her attention away from him and stopped their repetitive conversations about the mission. He found cooking kept his mind and hands focused and tempered his impatience, they had to act soon before the Death Eaters could do too much damage.

Every day that passed was a day they could use to track the Order, or track down the muggleborns. As they staked out the Alley and the employees they were able to get copies of the Daily Prophet and hear stories of what was happen to those who tried to flee and hide, while others were just rounded up.

A loud crack on the balcony announced Ron's return but it didn't stop Harry and Hermione training their wands on the door waiting to confirm that it was him. Their wards hadn't sounded and the sneakoskope remains still and silent, but they were being cautious.

Then the door opened and then the invisibility cloak was removed, and they saw Ron who had been out for hours having been out watching the entrances.

"Sorry, I followed that pinched old woman from Magical Cooperation to Diagon Alley and wasn't able to leave. I have news! But you are most certainly not going to like it." Ron told them glumly, "I have also been able to get a secondary confirmation of the security point on the inside of the Ministry, I head some miserable old warlock moaning about it, he said it was ridiculous how they flush in and they have to queue for almost twenty minutes to get through the security booths. However, he did say how it wasn't so bad being able to apparate home from the Atrium, so we can write that all up as confirmed intel."

Hermione frowned and pulled a muggle pad of paper out of the pile and picked up a pen and threw it at Ron. "Write it all down Ron. Even the smallest detail is key to our success" She reminded him, and she pulled out the map that Harry and Ron and worked to create showing the Atrium.

"So, the entrance deposits you in the atrium, somehow it is connection to the fireplaces or floo network." She said frowning, "What level of security do they have?"

Ron shrugged, he wasn't writing much down from what Harry could see through the hatch in the wall, he wondered if this would cause another pointless argument between his friends for what would be sixth time in the last nine days.

"No idea, but if we go in there unprepared I doubt we will get back out." He said seriously, "the things I have heard about the muggleborn workers trying to escape…" he shuddered, "well they are not anything I want to experience."

"You said there was news?" Hermione asked tentatively, not really sure she wanted to know what it was.

From his pocket Ron pulled out a beaten-up copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Created a copy from our magical maintenance friend." Ron said, Mr Magical Maintenance as they called him was just one of their possible disguises, it had been Ron's idea to use him due to how much freedom his position gave him to move about the Ministry.

Harry brought in bowls and cutlery and looked at the paper and gasped.

The front page was taken up with a large photograph of a familiar hook-nosed wizard, and the headline read: _SEVERUS SNAPE CONFIRMED AS NEXT HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS_.

"So, it's official." Harry growled turning his back to the paper to get their dinner, his blood boiled at the sight of the picture and he felt the itch to run down the street and storm the ministry by force. But he took a breath and busied himself with bringing the dinner through and tried to ignore Hermione.

 _"Minister Thicknese has today announced that longstanding potions master and head of Slytherin House will be returning to Hogwarts after a leave of absence to take his new position as Headmaster. His appointment comes after the death of Sirius Black, who had overturned years of traditions, violated the school's history and implemented sacrilegious changes to the school curriculum and who failed to protect the students who were in his charge."_

 _"The Minister also announced that Hogwarts will from today be the sole magical institution for the British Isles, having closed all of the state ran schools around the country. In a speech to the press in the Ministry of Magic he said a new law has been ratified by the Wizengamot, Hogwarts attendance is now mandatory for all children born in the British Isles, there can be no excuse for poor education and his government would ensure that our students are safe and would ensure they received a proper education._ "

"They have also scrapped the tuition costs for Hogwarts that Sirius had just introduced and instead increased public taxes. This will make every magical child a hostage but will indoctrinate them with their ideals." Ron added glumly shooting the paper a disgusted look, "Two death eaters have also been appointed to the staff."

He turned the page until it showed a picture of Amycus and Alecto Carrow and a list of the qualifications and what they would be teaching at Hogwarts.

Harry set down bowls of stew in front of them and then a plate of crusty bread he had bought from the bakery down the street. As he sat he caught sight of the article on the twins and snorted, they would be teaching Defensive Applications and Muggle studies respectively. Their qualifications were a farce, their only qualification was that they were Death Eaters.

"This makes our mission here even more important." Hermione said frowning as she dipped the bread in the stew and took a bite and she was momentarily distracted by the favour, "This is good Harry, thanks."

She received a small smile in reply, Harry couldn't do much more as he picked apart the bread not really paying his friends any attention.

"Yeah mate this is much better than that…" he said but hastily cut off his sentence as Hermione turned to look at him sharply, "We need to get inside the ministry and find out what level of security is in the Atrium." He said trying to change the subject.

"We have no way of getting inside yet." Hermione said reminded him, but her eyes were narrowed at the near insult to her cooking skills, "if we get in and are exposed then there goes our only chance of completing this mission, if we fail countless witches and wizards will die."

"I know that!" Ron snapped.

"So how do we get inside without being seen?" Hermione asked him, "Do you think there are old entrances somewhere?"

"Course." Ron said with a mouthful of food, "but they will be well hidden, and I don't have any idea where to look for them. Harry said about the muggle tunnel system being close to the ministry."

"You mean the tube?" Harry asked him, "Andromeda mentioned that in passing, if we blast our way in they will notice, and we don't even know what tunnel it was that got close, the ministry is rather spread out after all."

Ron sighed then looked around the room at their plans and his eyes fell on Hermione bag, "Don't suppose you have any veritaserum in that bag of yours, do you?"

"No!" Hermione said shocked, "Where could I have got it from? I got the Polyjuice from Mad Eye but there was no truth potion anywhere and I didn't have the time to make it myself."

"Shame, we could have abducted one of our targets and then used the potion to get the answers we need before wiping that from their memories."

Harry dropped his spoon and looked at Ron suddenly, "What did you just say?" He asked.

"We could have gotten the answers from any one of the people coming and going through the employee entrance if we had truth potion." Ron said again, "We could reach out to the Order they would know."

"No." Harry said pushing away his food, his appetite gone, and he hugged his arms as he thought of a way to get the answers they needed, it was not something he would have thought of before his time in Nurmengard.

"You have an idea?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Yes, you won't like it but there is a way for us to see inside the Ministry without having to step inside." Harry told them, "we will need to be careful, but it should work so long as we do it right."

 **o-HP-o**

Harrys plan had been simple originally, they would abduct an employee of the ministry as the left work for the evening. Take them to a safe location – not their safe house – once there Harry would get into their heads and take the intelligence they needed from the employee's memory of their day.

Of course, Hermione had pointed out it was harder than that, they had to make sure that whoever they took would not be missed during their time interrogating them, they also needed to make sure they had the necessary information and were not just a visitor.

It took them three days to settle on a ferrety little wizard who they had discovered worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, they hadn't known who he was, but he didn't wear a wedding ring and their surveillance had not revealed any close family.

Once Hermione was sure that he wouldn't be missed Ron and Harry acted, hidden beneath the invisibility cloak and a strong disillusionment charm between them and they waited for him to pass them.

The watched him enter the alleyway and Harry waited invisible in front of the man and he saw Ron's wand appear from under the cloak and he was stunned from behind, and he fell forwards and would have fallen on his face if Harry hadn't quickly darted forwards and grabbed a hold of him and quickly disapparated them both away.

"Did you have any trouble?" She asked anxiously.

A second crack announced Ron's arrival.

"Well that could have gone better." He muttered.

"What did you do!" Hermione gasped holding her wand out thinking they were about to be attacked.

"He stunned him, but he almost fell on his face." Harry grunted and glared at Ron, "A bit of help would be great."

Ron smirked but came forwards and they each grabbed the unconscious man by an arm and dragged him into a chair and they bound him in place.

"So how do we do this?" Ron asked looking at the man and then at Harry and Hermione, "You know I don't know a thing about mind reading."

"You can't read a mind like a book, Ron." Hermione corrected, "You can watch memories and understand top most thoughts."

"The issue we have is that to use the strongest form of Legilimency the subject must be awake and fully lucid. While sleeping the mind or unconscious the mind cannot be breached. Truth serums and other potions can inhibit the process too."

"How do you know this anyway?" Ron asked not noticing the warning look Hermione threw at him.

"I learnt this through experience." Harry said darkly, Makos was many things but he truly understood the art of interrogation and Harry had picked up some of those skills.

"Do we wake him?" Hermione asked delicately, she had guessed what had happened to him in Nurmengard at least and didn't want the conversation to remain there.

"No." Harry said shaking his head, and he pulled out a rune scribing tool, and began draw a rune into the man's temples, "this is the visionary rune, it will allow the two of you to see what I see." He then drew the same runes onto them.

"You didn't mention anything about burning my flesh." Ron complained grumpily rubbing his temples where the runes burnt black and the skin was red around it.

"Once I have activated those runes they will glow and once I am done they will fade and we can heal you easily enough." Harry promised, he then pointed his wand at their prisoner, "Obscura." A black blindfold wrapped around his head, "Since we are done we will need to wipe this from his mind, however we must still be careful as memory charms can be broken and we do not want to reveal anything to anyone."

"What do we do?" Hermione asked, "Do we need to touch his runes?"

"No." Harry said frowning, he was not entirely certain how it worked his knowledge of the runes and mind breaking was rudimentary, but he did understand the theory behind it "I will need to do that, I will delve into his consciousness and you will see what I see. You both must stay silent and do not try to influence or manipulate anything, I don't know if you could but too many minds here could do irreversible damage."

They both nodded and moved away from him.

Taking a deep breath Harry cast a body bind on the prisoner and then added a silencing charm before he woke him, he would have thrashed if he was able and Harry knew he was disoriented.

"Please try and remain calm, I am not going to harm you." Harry told him, "in fact I am sorry for the way I had to take you, I am sure you are terrified given who now runs the ministry."

Sweat began to bead on the man's head and Harry truly did feel sorry for him.

"You have my word that once I have my answers you will be returned to London, you won't even remember this." Harry added he placed one hand over one of the visionary runes on the man's temple while pointing his wand directly at the mans head and cast his spell.

Entering lightly Harry could feel the overwhelming sense of fear and terror the man was experiencing, it made this part of his plan awful, not just for their prisoner but for Harry too but to get the most out of this probe the man had to be awake.

Fortunately, the man had no skill in occlumency, so Harry began to nudge his thoughts in places and soon a memory of his abduction came to the surface and he grabbed hold of it with a mental thought and then began to watch it for any signs of them and to get used to the control he was exerting.

He watched as the Man walked into the alleyway having just left the ministry, and then something hit him, and everything went black.

He let go of that memory and silently waited for another memory appeared that he wanted but nothing did, he could hear the man's thoughts, wondering who held him, what he had done to get their attention and if he would be killed and Harry had to ignore this despite the bile at the back of his throat.

Bored with waiting he tried something new, he projected an image of the employee's entrance and the image immediately caused a reaction. The Man's consciousness recognised the image and it caused it to briefly flash a similar memory but that was all Harry needed.

Reaching back for it he caught hold of it with an iron will and began to watch it, the man waited in line with other wizards and they would place tokens in the door before entering, once inside they flushed themselves down the toilet only to reappear within the Ministry Atrium.

There was a second layer of security within they needed to get passed the checkpoint where a watch-wizard checked your ID and wand against his register but there was also a blood test.

Withdrawing from the man's mind having got everything that they needed Harry released his hold and returned to his own thoughts.

The man was shaking from the ordeal, but Harry had been affected worse, he felt every mark and cut Makos had made on his skin even though had all healed. Sweat was dripping down his face and he shivered as if he was freezing cold.

"Stupefy!" He snapped, and the man slumped unconscious and Harry quickly conjured a bucket and threw up the meagre lunch he had managed to eat that afternoon. He turned to his friends who looked at him with wide eyes and the runes at their brows were glowing slightly as the magic died.

"How the hell do we get passed that!" He asked them, his tone biting as he tried to turn his mind away not only from what he had done but what he had been forced to suffer only a month or so prior.

"We can forge those ID's they are nothing specially by looks of them." Ron said frowning as he thought on what they had seen while shooting Hermione a concerned look at Harrys condition, "Those tokens should be on our targets, so we will be able to get them easily enough. The wand and blood testing? Now that has me beaten."

"Could we use their wands?" Hermione asked, "I mean if we have them on us could we pass them off as ours?"

Harry hadn't thought of that but considered it now. "It is possible, I don't know exactly how that device works, but I do not fancy going down there with a wand that is not my own, we will need to have the full control of our magic and using another's wand may not work as well as ours."

"That's true." Ron said looking at his wand, "this works so much better for me that Charlie's old wand ever did."

"The wands are not the biggest obstacle; how do we get passed the blood checks." Hermione asked, "It's the only way to identify someone under the Polyjuice potion."

"Ok so we have a few things to work out." Harry admitted as he healed the rune burns on the Man whose mind he had just violated, "and we do not have much time to do that either. Hermione can you erase his memories and with Ron get him back to the alleyway? Give him a dose of sleeping draught too it will make him sleep and made him forget his lost time."

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked, "You better not try and storm it alone."

"Never." Harry admitted, although the thought had occurred to him more than once, "I need to think, and I will do it better without you two bickering around me."

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	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Five**

 **Infiltrating the Ministry of Magic**

In the three days that had passed since Harry had probed the mind of the abducted ministry worker he and his friends had not stopped getting themselves ready for the infiltration of the Ministry of Magic.

But while they had been secluded in their flat overlooking the apparation point, the Death Eaters had also begun a new campaign against the muggleborn witches and wizards. All muggleborns had to submit themselves for registration, and most were arrested and never returned to their families after entering the Ministry.

So, their plan had been accelerated and that night they had begun an exhausted review of all their notes and plans and packed everything that they would need for the job. They had been up late into the night planning as Hermione refused to allow everything to go ahead unless they could literally recite it word for word.

By the time they did get to bed Harry had fallen asleep the moment his head had hit the pillow, they would be up at dawn and he wanted to be as well rested as he could be, he knew that the chances of everything going to plan were remote and he needed his wits and strength.

Harry was woken by the sound of Hermione's muggle alarm clock and had to resist the overwhelming urge to send a blasting curse at the wretched thing, he was still tired and felt like he had barely slept at all.

The door to what functioned as his room opened and Ron poked his head in to make sure he was awake.

"You look dreadful, did you manage to sleep at all?" He asked concerned, he didn't look much better than Harry felt either.

"Don't worry." Harry yawned ignoring the question, "soon enough I will look like someone else."

When he entered the kitchen, he was given a large cup of coffee and a bagel by Hermione before she returned to a great pile of papers in front of her wearing her familiar exam-prep expression.

She didn't say anything as she packed her little bag and reviewed the list of things she had written on her pad and was muttering to herself and Harry and Ron left her to it, this was just her way of dealing with things.

Suddenly she shrieked and pulled out a small tin and looked at Harry horrified.

"How did we forget these!" She cried thrusting the tin at him, "If we had gotten separated…"

"Hermione!" Harry said firmly yet very calmly, "Take a breath, I hadn't forgotten them."

He took the box and placed it on the table, and then placed a body binding spell on Hermione and gently used his wand to cut open her left arm, Ron went to stop him, but Harry pushed him away. From the box he pulled out a piece of metal no larger than a pumpkin seed, he placed it under the skin and then healed the cut flawlessly and unfroze her.

"What in the name of Merlin is that?" Ron demanded looking between them.

"Our way of staying in touch with one another in case we split up." Hermione told him as she repeated the process with Harry. The experience of being frozen and cut open was uncomfortable and Harrys breathing increased with every moment, but she got it done as quickly as she could, she knew his apprehension of being powerless.

"We each have our own aim inside the Ministry," Hermione continued, "and should something happen, and we need help or just to inform each other of some change then these will come in handy. I based them off our DA communication medallions, Harry helped with some of the magic too."

Ron looked unconvinced, so Harry added.

"All you do is press on them and whisper the message you want to say, and it will appear on our arms."

Harry's wrist grew hot and itched slightly as Hermione pressed her arm and muttered something, he pulled back his sleeve to reveal the message **HG: WILL YOU DO HIS, OR WILL I**. It looked like a feint tattoo on the skin that lasted less than a minute.

"You." Harry said and while she stunned Ron and began to insert his new communicator into his arm, Harry continued to explain them, "With the added security we couldn't risk the DA communicators, I think these will allow us through the security point without notice, so long as they don't activate while being swept for concealment we should be safe."

"Where did you get the idea?" Ron asked as he examined his arm pressing the small almost unnoticeable lump under the skin.

"I know what it is like to be without a way of gaining help or being separated." Harry said tensely and taking a large bite of bagel.

Ron didn't ask further questioned and Hermione quickly busied herself with packing up what they would need.

They would be returning to the Flat after the mission, only to collect what remained and to remove all traces of their staying within its walls. Most of their belongings would need to stay within the flat as they couldn't get it through the added security without notice.

When the time came to move the three of them disapparated and landed in the alleyway across from their distant flat. They arrived before the usual commuters arrived and would need to lay in wait to grab them.

"So, my disguise should be here soon, I will stun her and…" Hermione said checking her watch

"Shh," Ron told her, "We know the plan, now I thought you were supposed to have opened that door?"

Hermione squealed and looked frantic, but Harry stepped passed her and unlocked the fire door to empty theatre and the door squealed as it opened, and Harry and Ron went inside and shut the door while Hermione waited outside under the cloak.

"If she keeps this up she will give us away." Ron said to Harry, "Don't suppose you have a calming draught, do you?"

"She will be fine." Harry told him, but he wasn't so sure of that, but he kept his doubt to himself.

A couple of minutes later, there was a small crack behind the two of them and a stunned woman was there suspended oddly without any support. However, that support appeared once Hermione removed the Cloak and panted, "She is much heavier than she looks."

She then handed the cloak off to Ron who stepped outside to wait for his own target, while Harry set up three cups and filled them with the brown mud-like Polyjuice potion, Hermione added a few of her disguises hairs into a cup and while it changed colour Hermione began to look through the woman's bag.

"So, she is Mafalda Hopkirk who works in the improper use of magic office." She read from her identification, "Good, she hasn't been reassigned which means I should be able to get to the Trace System without much trouble."

Hermione took the woman's work documents and placed them into her own bag for her disguise but kept hold of Miss Hopkirks identity cards, as they would be needed at the security checkpoint. "I will give you both a couple of the entrance tokens in case your disguises don't have any, I am still not looking forward to that part by the way."

Smirking, Harry turned away as she pulled out a set of witch's robes and allowed her to get changed into something more suited to her disguise, while she was doing that Harry watched the alley through the crack in the door.

"He is late today." Harry said to Hermione.

"Hopefully he gets here with the coast being clear…." She said sounding a little worried, but they heard the sound of apparition.

There were two small pops and two wizards apparated into the alley, one was their target the other was not.

"Hermione quick do something!" Harry urged, "You need to delay him while the other bloke leaves."

Nodding Hermione took a quick sip of her potion and transformed before she disappeared with a pop only to reappear directly in front of the small, ferrety-looking balding wizard and they collided.

"Oh, so sorry." She said weakly as she grabbed a hold of him feigning to keep her balance, "Such a stupid way to get to work, this is the second time I have done that."

"No harm done Mafalda." The wizard said polite, quiet voice.

"How are you today?" Hermione asked him as she saw the other man had stopped to see what the commotion was but had begun to walk away now.

"Not good actually." The wizard said, and he looked very disheartened but looked around carefully and regarded her suspiciously, "It's a bad day today."

"Well hopefully things will sort themselves out." Hermione said consolingly, the man was almost out of sight now she just needed to delay him a bit further, "Merlin! Do you see my… token…I…erm…dropped it!"

"No-"the man said but he was hit in the chest by a stunning charm and then disappeared with a loud pop only to reappear behind Harry.

Hermione hurried over to the door and ducked inside.

"Thanks for that." Ron said, "You gave me a bloody heart attack when you appeared out of nowhere." He bent down and pulled out a couple of his hairs and added them to his own potion, "odd he isn't wearing his work robes today, they are in here though." He said as he went through the man's bag.

"Who is he?" Harry asked, "We never did get his name."

"Reginald Cattermole." Ron said reading from the man's work ID, "I think I have heard dad talk about him you know. Do we need to take their bags and stuff?"

"No." Harry said, "not unless it is work related, but you will need to take his papers."

They waited for ten more minutes and numerous other Ministerial staff went passed and eventually their last disguise arrived. Harry was already outside waiting for him when he appeared, he wasn't alone however so Harry had to be careful.

He cast a silencing charm around them and then swiftly stunned him before apparating away with the man held tightly in his hand.

"Check his papers, what is his full name?" Harry asked as he pulled out some black curly hair and added it to his dose of the potion, while Hermione sorted him out some robes to wear. He was much taller than Harry and powerfully built, his black hair covered his chin and he was well dressed so Harry thought it might be someone important.

"So, his first name is Albert, no one calls him that though from what we can tell. Albert Runcorn. DMLE – Special investigations?" Ron shrugged throwing him the man's papers. "Don't know much about him or that department but given how people don't like being near him I think that department might have something do to disappearances."

A few minutes later Harry had gone through the painful transformation and dressed in a very good replica of the man's clothing thanks to Hermione's charm work, he stepped around the corner he had used for some privacy and Ron looked up at him.

"That is weird! You're taller and bigger than me mate." He told him, "Are we ready for this then?"

Hermione nodded timidly, and Harry said, "This dose of the potion should last at least an hour, we need to be in and out within that time. Remember if we are detected they will lock down the building and we will never get out. Take a final sip to give us the longest duration and let's go."

Following his suggestion, they downed the potion with revolted faces, Hermione or Mafalda given her appearance looked the most hesitant, she hadn't got over her first experience with the potion that had turned her into a cat.

Once that was done the three of them disapparated from the theatre fire exit and into the alley and ignored each other as they stepped out of the alleyway and walked fifty yards along the morning hustle and bustle of London commuters and stepped down old Victorian steps to a public underground toilet. Hermione went down into the ladies, while Harry and Ron went down the stairs labelled Gentlemen.

The staff entrance for the Ministry was odd, if it was supposed to be subtle or incognito it truly failed, in fact Harry didn't think it made any sense unless it was to make some type of point it the employees.

Another man stepped into the line next to Harry and Ron who was also wearing the navy robes of magical Maintenance, "Reg! Didn't think I would see you today. I hate coming in this way its degrading! It's as if they think Harry Potter will just turn up with all the security they have added!"

The wizard laughed at his own joke and Ron looked positively alarmed for a moment before he joined his laughed, "Yeah imagine that! Never would think he would just walk straight in would you!"

"Good luck today Reg." the man smiled at the three of them inserted their golden coins into their respective doors and let themselves into cubicles.

Harry stood up on the rim of the toilet and placed his feet into the water, it was revolting yet his feet were bone dry and he hesitantly reached up and grabbed the chain and took a deep breath and pulled. The next moment he was pulled downwards quickly like he had been pulled into a shoot and then emerged from a roaring fireplace and stepped out in to the Ministry of magic.

A series of security booths had been set up, all of them manned by ministry security, whether aurors, unspeakable, death eaters of watch wizards Harry didn't know but everyone was queuing up for them.

He casually walked into a queue and looked pointedly around with feigned disinterest, he was watching everything but nothing. A skill that Mad Eye had taught him, and Sirius had forced him to master for it was a skill that could come in useful.

Somewhere in other queues were Ron and Hermione, he didn't seek them out for they had no reason to interact, they were not work colleagues, so it might look strange for them to huddle together.

The man in front of Harry was shaking slightly as he stepped up to the booth and handed over his papers to the security-wizard. The wizard eyed the man suspiciously and looked over his identity papers with a sniff of disdain.

He then performed further checks, he tested the mans wand, and ran a set of sensory probes over him and then performed the blood test before he was allowed the pass.

"Papers." The man grunted flicking his chin at Harry, but there was an odd look in his eye as he regarded Harry, he thought it might be hesitation or weariness.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the wallet he had taken from Runcorn and handed it over with all of the official ministry identity papers.

"Wand." He requested as he performed a test on the papers most probably to ensure that they were authentic, Harry was suddenly glad they had stolen them not copied them.

The security wizard placed the wand on a set of scales and it seemingly detected what type of wand it was and printed off a ticket, and it printed slower than it had previously.

"Spruce, Dragon Heartstring, in service for…sixteen years." He said reading the ticket and looked at Harry expectantly.

"Get on with it." Harry snapped guessing this was another test, "I don't have time for this."

The security wizard nodded quickly and then pulled out the the blood stone.

"Just need the blood sample Sir." He said quickly looking around nervously.

Harry gave him a glare that made him squirm uncomfortably and he pressed his thumb into the stone, it glowed slightly as it took the sample before a name printed on the parchment it sat on.

The security wizard gave a breath of relief and moved aside.

"Very good Mr Runcorn."

Without a further word or look Harry swept passed the man and followed the other employees and visitors who were walking down the Atrium towards the lifts. The fireplaces flashed periodically as higher-up members of the Ministry arrived and while others left through the grates.

Following their predetermined plan, Harry walked towards the fountain and the golden statues of the magical brethren only to find that it was gone. Now a giant black stoned monstrosity stood above the fountain. It depicted a witch and wizard sat on a large throne, the throne that looked like the fabled throne of the Pendragon Kings.

Onto the large block the throne resided on were the foot-high letters spelling: MAGIC IS MIGHT.

The very statue made Harry shiver and pause and look up at it and a wizard reading the morning paper walked straight into Harry.

"Out of the way you foo…." The wizard said but then he saw who he had walked into and went pale, "s-s-sorry Runcorn!" He hurried off without another word clearly frightened of the man Harry was impersonating.

That was interesting Harry thought, they had known that Runcorn was intimidating from their time watching him but there was a level of fear here that they had not discovered, something that Harry wondered if he could use now.

Someone came and stood next to Harry and looked at the statue themselves, he realised it was Hermione after a moment.

It took Ron a minute or more to join them and he looked relieved to see them and he was sweating a bit.

"Don't know why he was so interested in why I was here." Ron grunted staring daggers up the Atrium to where he had been tested, "Seemed to think I was just going to cause a disturbance."

Hermione looked terrified for a moment, probably thinking they had been rumbled.

"We are fine." Harry said confidently, and he gave his thumb a small pull and seemingly pulled off the top of his thumb and chucked into into the fountain. To pass they blood tests they had needed the blood of those that they were impersonating but Harry and Hermione could think of no way to get the blood to the stone without being noticed.

It had been Ron who said they could use a fake thumb like the one his dad got in the muggle magic set the twins bought him last year. Hermione had gone out into muggle London and returned with three of the trick thumbs and with a bit of magic and make up they had them altered to match their own skin tones.

Ron and Hermione discarded their own fake thumbs without drawing attention.

"Horrible isn't it?" Hermione muttered regarding the statue "Witches and wizards sitting on thrones that are built on or held up by muggles."

The carving had been done on the Death Eaters order, the muggles were all naked and depicted as being stupid, ugly and brutish, their bodies twisted and pressed together to support the supremacy of the superior beings above them.

"Let's stop the sightseeing shall we, we both have a job to do." Ron said pointedly, "Now where to first?"

"Mafalda you need to go to your offices." Harry said "There is an issue with the Trace system. Cattermole I heard there was an issue in the Department of Magical Education."

The two of them nodded tensely, it left the Harry to find the Records Office that contained the records of the muggle born but he was not sure where they were being kept however one of their stake outs said there was a new department on the Ministers floor that was involved with Muggleborns so Harry thought that was a good place to start.

They made their way down the Atrium through the swarms of people, many of them moved with their eyes downcast and silent. Harry could feel fear in the very air, he guessed that many of them were here not because they believed in the new regime, but they had mouths to feed and families to protect.

Suddenly a ripple moved through the crowds of people, and it parted to reveal a scowling brutish man dressed is some magnificently embroiled expensive robes. Harry recognised him instantly, he was a death Eater.

"Cattermole!" He snapped seeing Ron standing there.

"Morning." Ron said replied in a high voice with a noticeable gulp and his hand moved towards his pocket.

"Morning?" Yaxley sneered, "see I wouldn't know it was morning as my office is dark and raining with lightning striking every minute! I sent a request to the Magical Maintenance yesterday! What is the delay Cattermole!"

"Raining you say?" Ron stuttered, "That's the first I have heard of it."

"Are you being funny Cattermole." Yaxley all but shouted and many of the surrounding witches and wizards moved away as quick at they could. "You would think that when the Head of the DMLE makes a request it would be at the top of the list of priorities. I am sure I don't need to remind you about the interrogation I will be overseeing this morning. Get it done Cattermole or the outcome will be prejudiced."

Ron froze, and Hermione looked terrified behind him as she tried not to get noticed.

"Unless you have already wrote her off as a lost cause." Yaxley said in a delighted voice, "perhaps you have realised the error of your affiliation to those of dirty blood. Distancing yourself is wise Cattermole, but it would be wiser to fix my office."

"Yes Mr Yaxley." Ron said quickly, "I will see to it immediately."

"Good." Yaxley smirked nastily and he turned away and caught sight of Harry. "Morning Runcorn, I would keep an eye on this one."

"Yaxley." Harry nodded in greeting.

The golden grilles opened, and Ron stepped inside, and no one tried to follow him inside, scared that his altercation would cause them trouble. Harry and Hermione however stepped onto the lift but made sure to look to give him a wide berth.

Once the grille closed and the lift moved they finally spoke and looked at each other.

"What the hell am I supposed to do!" He demanded.

"If you do not go to the DMLE you with arouse suspicion." Hermione whispered quickly, "You need to go down there and at least look to try and rectify the issue."

"How in the name of Merlin can I fix it!" Ron asked sounding drastic, "this potion wont last long, how can I fix it and get to the quill and book in the Educational department?"

"You won't be able to fix it." Harry said looking at the dial to see how long they had and he saw the look Ron gave him. "I am not doubting that you could do it, but you don't know the magic needed and we don't have time to teach you the spells."

"Ron, try Finite Incantatem." Hermione instructed at once noticing they were running out of time, "If it is a jinx, hex or curse that should nullify it. If it doesn't that means that someone has messed with the atmospheric charms in his office and that is trickier. Use the impervious charm as a stop gap measure and then use that as an excuse to leave to get help but make your way to the Educational department."

Ron nodded dumbly, and he began to mutter under his breath exactly what she said, and the the lift stopped on the DMLE floor and he stepped out of the lift without looking back and the grille started to slide back into place, but Harry caught it and stopped it.

"What are you doing!" Harry hissed urgently, "The Improper use of Magic department is on this floor to. Now go and sabotage the Trace."

"But…" Hermione said looking panicked.

"You know what it is." Harry reminded her, "If you cannot sabotage it then you will need to break it or steal it. Just remember, not to get caught of draw attention to yourself."

She looked terrified as she stepped out of the lift and the grille shut between them and she looked at Harry helplessly, but it was too late the lift began to move and then she was out of sight.

When the lift finally came to a stop again it announced "Level One – Minister of Magic and Support Staff"

Harry stepped out was not surprised to see the overly extravagant and expensive décor, it was a statement of wealth, status and power. He didn't draw any attention as he passed the support staff and many of the nodded to him respectfully.

A man was walking towards him with surrounded by people writing on clipboards as he spoke, and he was speaking quiet passionately about something and Harry made to avoid him, but the man caught sight of him.

"Runcorn!" Called the new Minister of magic, his long black-silver hair pulled into pony tail behind him and his beard was groomed to a sharp point. "what brings you up here, you haven't found another blood-traitor within our fine Ministry have you?"

"Not at all." Harry said carefully, "I just needed a word with one of the undersecretaries to corroborate a family history."

"Very good, be sure to weed out the undesirables, root and stem we cannot have them poisoning our ministry and our new regime." The minister said, and he turned to one of his aids, "Runcorn here is in part responsible of weeding out Dirk Cresswell's falsified family history and those responsible.

"I heard about that Albert, a job well done!" Said one of the wizards, "We cannot allow those types of people covering up the dirty blooded of our society."

Harry nodded and smiled tightly repulsed by what they said and managed to say, "if you will excuse me, I have others to track and put on trial."

They parted easily at his words and didn't hold him up, in fact two of them wished him luck in his endeavours.

All records on the population of the British Magical Community was housed in the Domesday Hall, an entire department devoted to the record keeping of every member of the community from the earliest days of the wizard's councils and before.

The information the hall contained was huge, if the research Hermione had done on the place was right, it had records of every magical family, the births, deaths and marriages, along with holdings, tax records and achievements and histories. It was an important room Harry thought, it would contain records of his own family that he would otherwise not be able to find outside of the records in his vault in Gringotts.

The attendants were meticulous, almost all the records were contained within leather-bound books and clearly labelled with dates and names. However, as he walked to the section that was marked as the muggleborn records and he saw that all the shelves were empty and found several scorch marks.

Frowning in confusion he double checked but didn't find the records he needed so he made his way to one of the desk in the centre of the room whom reminded him of the Hogwarts librarian.

"I needed to check the muggleborn files." He demanded, "Where have you put them all."

The plump witch looked up with an impatient look which immediately turned to alarm.

"Mr Runcorn!" She said breathlessly, "I don't understand sir, you oversaw their transfer to your department."

That caused Harry to pause and he glared at the women trying to intimidate her while he thought for a reason to try and probe for more information without raising suspicion.

"The original copies were all transferred to the Senior Under Secretary's office and all copies retained by the various departments were recalled and disposed of as per her orders." She said quickly to fill the silence, "Is this a test Mr Runcorn?"

"Yes." Harry said quickly, he knew that office and it made his blood freeze for a moment, "Very Good, after the mishap we cannot be too careful."

"Thank you, Sir." She said with a sigh of relief.

Harry didn't linger as he was sure the woman was now questioning everything, her fear and unease would keep her quiet for a time but eventually she might raise an alarm if he lingered too long.

But it wasn't for nothing, he now knew were the files he needed were and he quickly made his way back through Level One and was careful to avoid people this time as he was very conscious of the time scale on the Polyjuice, he just needed to find the office of the Senior Under Secretary.

He walked passed two large rooms filled with witches and wizards who were working with clunky printing presses and using magic to produce pamphlets. He swiped a copy for himself and looked with disgust at the title.

With only the briefest look at its contents Harry saw that the Ministry was upping its use of propaganda and publishing outright lies, all to sell the new regime and to try and twist the truth to serve the new regime.

He passed the doors to the offices of various secretaries and he finally came to the door he was looking for and his blood ran cold as he read the old worn metal plaque.

 _Delores Umbridge_

 _Senior Under Secretary to the Minister_

And under it was another plaque, all shiny and new.

 _Head of the Muggleborn Registration Commission_

The feeling of fury rose up within Harry as he read the plaques, they had heard some horror stories about the commission and its head, but he never imagined he would be her. She was supposed to be locked up within Azkaban suffering for all her crimes.

With a quick look behind him, he made sure he wasn't being watched by anyone within the large room, but they were all busy making the pamphlets, knocking on the door he got no answer so he turned the doorknob and stepped inside and quickly closed the door behind him.

He froze as he took in the office in front of him, it was a carbon copy of the office she had set up within Hogwarts. It wasn't pink, but the walls were covered in ornamental plates, the surfaces were hung with draperies, doilies and lace and it stank of some oily, rotten floral scent.

It made him sick to see her set up like this, as if nothing had happened surrounded by these things that was completely juxtaposed with the evil that presided over it all.

Under normal circumstances he would have liked to curse the office to ensnare the evil witch with multiple horrors, but his time was limited so against he better instinct he turned away from her desk and went over the door within the office that should contain her files and opened it.

And he suddenly realised that there was a very large hole in their plan, the room had been magically expanded to hold the entire muggleborn section. It was too large for him to extract or move so now he was stuck and didn't know what to do.

Burning the records would destroy them but these records were centuries in the making and he didn't want to destroy them if he didn't have to, and there was too many to shrink down and transport out in the time that he had.

Pressing the small nub on his arm Harry sent a message to his friends, he needed ideas and quick.

 **HBP: I FOUND THE RECORDS BUT HIT A SNAG.**

While he waited for a response he stepped into the room as he looked at the rows of books that contained the records he spied one that had a bright pink bookmark sticking out of it.

"What has her attention now." Harry said to himself and he pulled the book out and turned to the page.

 _Hermione Jean Granger_

 _Blood Status: First Generation Muggleborn_

 _Date of Birth: 19 September 1979_

 _Mother: Helen Christine Granger Neé Bromfield (Muggle). Occupation: Dentist._

 _Father: Daniel Arthur Granger (Muggle). Occupation: Dentist._

 _Noted Magical Ancestry: None Confirmed._

Harry snapped the record book shut and shoved it back on the shelf, he should have known she would have taken a keen interest in Hermione. He flicked out his wand and was resolved to burn all the records but stopped.

The records hall had showed signs of fire damage, but all the records here were intact without any sign of a slight singing.

"Incendio!" Harry muttered and sent a trail of fire from the tip of his wand only for the fire to disperse like a wave over a seawall. He ended the spell and cast a spell to identify what protective magics had been set over them and found a multitude of enchantments covering the books. "damn, of course they were protected! Things can't ever be easy."

His arm burned slightly as a message appeared.

 **RW: ITS STILL RAINING, BUT I HAVE SEEN THE TRACE DEVICE OF HG.**

 **HG: I HAVE BEEN DRAGGED TO THE COURTROOMS I AM STUCK HERE.**

Harry looked over the room that held the records and a plan formed in his head and he knew it was the best way of hiding them.

 **HBP: RW GET THE DEVICE AND THE QUILL, I WILL GET HG OUT.**

 **RW: YOU SURE?**

 **HG: COURT ROOM NINE. BRACE YOURSELF AND HURRY.**

 **HBP: MOVE NOW.**

Harry closed the door to the records and pointed his wand at the door and took a deep breath as he calmed himself and thought back to the book he had read and had to remember the pronunciation correctly and thanked Merlin that he had been involved with the securing of Grimmauld Place after Dumbledore died otherwise he would have been hesitant to perform this spell.

" _Arcanum Fidelium Signavit!_ " He said very clearly, and a bright blue light engulfed the door and he pressed his hand to it. "The door to the storage room containing the muggleborn records can be found in the Senior Undersecretaries office in the Ministry of Magic in London."

The glow dissipated as the spell took effect and he felt something strange within him for a moment before that also settled. Walking over to the desk he opened a drawer to find some parchment and a quill, so he could write the secret down, so he could pass it on and but instead of finding what he wanted he instead found a folder.

Normally he wouldn't have cared by it was stamped 'ORDER OF THE PHOENIX'. He picked up the folder and opened it and found it filled with at least thirty sheets of parchment all of which detailed reports on various suspected members of the Order.

This was bad he realised, the Death Eaters were using the Ministry to track the Order. He doubted that they knew just how much they were being tracked, he pulled out a quill and scribbled the secret onto the front page of the folder and pocketed it and then left the office and set of towards the lifts.

The lift was empty when it arrived for which Harry was thankful, as he it gave him time to think about how he was going to get Hermione out of the courtroom without rousing any suspicion, but he also was worried about Ron.

When the lift stopped again and and when the doors opened they came face to face with Mr Weasley who was talking to an elderly witch with a blonde beehive on her head, but their conversation ended the moment they saw Runcorn standing there.

Harry found it very odd to be on the receiving end of a look of such dislike from Mr Weasley who was such a kind-hearted man but right now he was reminded that he was also Lord Weasley.

Mr Weasley turned his nose up at him and looked pointedly at the front of the lift ignoring him.

With his back to Harry, he couldn't see Mr Weasley very well, but he noticed that he still looked ill and haggard, more than he had before the wedding and he wondered what had happened after they had fled the wedding and he was glad Ron was not in the lift at that moment.

The doors opened again on Level Four and the witch stepped out, however once the lift doors had closed and begun to move Mr Weasley spun and pinned Harry with a dark glare.

"Runcorn." He said with unconcealed hatred. "I heard what you did with Dirk Cresswell."

"You did?" Harry said raising a brow to pretend ignorance, he already had a feeling he was impersonating a big death Eater supporter but given the way Mr Weasley was looking at him he had done something bad to gain his ire.

"Don't play coy Runcorn!" Mr Weasley snapped, "You tracked down the wizard who faked Dirks family tree and exposed him, you are the reason Dirk was so viciously arrested."

Mr Weasley was breathing heavily and was having to lean on the side of the elevator wall to steady himself, but his anger was tangible, made more obvious by the tendrils of family magic that was rising around Harry menacingly like a warning growl of a lion.

"Even if what you say is true," Harry said to him calmly, "Do you really think it a good idea to confront me? You may hate me but have you considered your own family? Can you afford to anger me? I hear your youngest boy is is terminally ill."

Mr Wesleys ears went red, a sure warning sign that his son had inherited "are you threatening my family?" He demanded in a low voice his hand reaching for his pocket that no doubt held his wand.

"No." Harry said simply, he wasn't sure if Mr Weasley would attack him but if he did Harry would be forced to defend himself as he had to get to Hermione, "in fact I am giving you a warning. Do not push this Arthur.

From his pocket he pulled out the file he had taken from Umbridge's office and threw it at him.

"Review that file Weasley, I am sure you will find it most illuminating and you will find the leads that you and your co-workers must follow, we cannot allow the mudbloods a chance to get away from us now can we?" Harry said, "I have also added my own note into the folder, and before you think of refusing you need to think about who you are fighting against as that folder will help you and by extension me."

Mr Weasley looked down at the folder and then back up to Harry looking very confused as the doors opened to level Nine Harry stepped off the lift and then looked back at him as the doors closed and saw they were alone.

"Oh, and Arthur." Harry said smiling now he was free, "The next time you think about challenging someone you should remember that it only takes one visitor to find the truth of your ghoul, and we cannot be worrying about you guys when we are out here fighting this war. Be sure to have an alibi for the morning Arthur, your going to need one."

Mr Weasley looked even more confused then, he looked from the folder to Harry who was smiling at him and a look of wonder crossed his face before the lift moved and then he was out of sight.

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	6. Chapter 6

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Six**

 **Ministry of Mayhem**

In the bowels of the ministry in a dark and forbidding courtroom Hermione sat in the tiered seating with a stack of parchment and a quill in hand pretending to take notes while trying to control her trembling.

Their plan had been perfect, every detail gone over and they had planned for every eventuality. Or at least so she had thought, now she was stuck without a plan and didn't know how to get away and didn't have much time until her Polyjuice wore off.

She had been in the Improper Use of Magic Department for less than twenty minutes before she had found what people called the Trace. It was a large quartz fragment covered in what looked like veins of gold and it pulsed with a warm glow and magical runes danced over its many facets.

The Trace could detect magic use across the British Isles and projected a beam of light at the large table which transitioned from a map of the entire isles and began to scale in until it focused on a northern city which Hermione thought could be Manchester.

The table surface sprung to life rendering a depiction of the city complete with streets and buildings it wasn't perfect or overly detailed but gave an accurate model of the area. The Trace glowed brighter and a rendering of a person made of red light began to run through the model street, and above the person a name appeared and then began to list the magic the man was using that the Trace could identify.

It was an incredible use of magic and had left Hermione awe stuck having never seen anything like it and a deep desire burned to investigate the magic further to find out how it all worked. She wondered if the table and the quartz were all part of the system as their research had only mentioned the quartz.

However, before Hermione got the opportunity to react to this new-found information the atmosphere in the room changed, the room had been filled with witches and wizards talking and working but that all stopped when someone entered the floor.

"Mafalda!" Called a high-pitched voice with was falsely girly that made Hermione freeze on the spot in horror and had to force herself to turn, she knew that voice and had hoped she would never have to hear it again let alone see its owner.

"Good you are here, I need to in the courtrooms if you don't mind?"

There in front of her, free of her imprisonment of Azkaban was none other than Delores Umbridge. Her face was more lined than Hermione remembered, and she looked slightly gaunt and her eyes more pouchy but looked to be recovering from her stay in the wizard prison but was thinner than before.

"Of course, Delores." She replied weakly.

"Very good!" Umbridge said sounding genuinely delighted and her eyes probed the room quickly and she saw the map was tracking someone and her eyes narrowed. "Well what are you waiting for apprehend the mudblood and arrest him, I will have him in my courtroom by the end of today."

Immediately the room resumed its activity, but no one had spoken again, and they tried not to gain her attention.

When they had come to the courtrooms Hermione had been appalled and terrified at the same time, there were witches and wizards all seated along the corridor looking even more terrified than she felt, and patrolling the corridor was a dementor which caused her to shiver unconsciously.

"Not to worry Mafalda." Umbridge said patting her arm, "I control them all, they would not dare to harm true witches, however I cannot say the same for these pretenders."

Hermione felt the overwhelming urge to blast the woman with a curse and felt unclean under her touch, she remembered the crimes she had been convicted of and felt sick that a known child killer was now free under the new regime.

They had then entered the courtroom and Hermione got herself set up in the chair for the scribe and made it look like she was ready to write notes for whatever case Umbridge was here to oversee.

Then the door opened once more and to her alarm Yaxley joined them in the seats.

"So, any filth of note on the docket today?" Yaxley asked sounding bored.

"We have the wife of a ministry employee if you can believe it Corban." Umbridge said giving a girly laugh, "one of them married a true wizard even if he is just a cleaner, they have such a nerve!"

Yaxley sneered, "Magic is wasted on men like them."

While the two of them discussed the upcoming trials, Hermione had a dark thought as to what the two of them were overseeing and hoped she was wrong, at the same time she felt the heat of a message flare up on her arm and knew she would need help getting out and was relieved when Harry said he was coming for her.

The first trial had been for a middle-aged man who had to be dragged into the courtroom as he did not have the strength to hold himself up or walk on his trembling legs. The trial was a farce, his only supposed crime was being a muggleborn but the ministry had now decreed that there was no such thing as muggleborns and that those of non-magical heritage could only gain magic through the theft of a true-wizards magic who was killed the apparent transfer of magic.

It was lucky for Hermione that Umbridge and Yaxley had not been looking at her when they explained this new " _Discovery_ " to the accused muggleborn who was bound in place by the chair in the centre of the room. If they had seen her face they would surely have known that she was an imposter or at least had a great deal of explaining to do.

Hermione forced herself to sit still and impassive while the entire time she wanted to scream at Umbridge and point out the flaws in their apparent new discovery which made no sense at all. The accused had tried to refute his apparent crime but had become hysterical when Umbridge had threatened him with the Dementors Kiss.

"I am a wizard!" The man had all but cried, "I didn't steal anything, I have had magic my entire life! I swear it!"

"Your lying!" Umbridge snapped "Confess to the murder of a wizard and the theft of his magic or I will have no choice to have you kissed for not cooperating."

"NO!" The man shouted, tear tracks covered his face and his eyes wide in fear as the dementor in the room moved towards him.

Hermione sat still but didn't know what to do, her hand inched towards her wand that lay in her pocket, she could save him with a patronus, she hadn't mastered the charm but thought she at least could perform it better than the mockery that Umbridge had created to patrol in front of their seats to stave of the dementors effects.

"Confess your crime." Umbridge pushed "this is your last warning!"

"I am a wizar…" The man protested again but stopped as the dementor suddenly lunged at him and gripped his jaw. The man screamed in terror and tried to escape the creatures hold but was bound to the chair in magical chains that glowed bright red as he struggled and he cried out in pain as they hurt him.

Yaxley and Umbridge watched with delight as the dementor pulled back its hood and went to perform the kiss on the man in the chair.

Hermione reached into her pocket for her wand, she couldn't allow this to happen to anyone, their mission was not more important than this one man.

"I CONFESS!" The man managed to scream, his eyes so wide now that Hermione thought his eyes might fall out their sockets, the dementor was so close to him and had been moments away from performing the dark act of devouring his soul and she had her hand gripped tightly around her wand handle

"Confess what." Umbridge said bored, obviously disappointed but had stopped the dementor was a single command, "What do you confess."

"I killed a wizard for his magic, I am a thief and murderer." He said looking at her pleading, "Please don't let it kiss me."

Umbridge gave a girly laugh, "Do not worry dear, you will not be kissed today, however in light of your confession I sentence you to life imprisonment in Azkaban, the Dementors can do what they will with you. Yaxley do you agree?"

"I do." He said gruffly, "Take this filth away."

The dementor moved close to the man again as he was released from his chains and he suddenly fell forwards and onto the floor unmoving.

With great reluctance Yaxley moved down to the floor as the dementor moved away now, totally disinterested and Hermione could only think of one reason why it would be acting like that.

"Dead." Yaxley said kicking the man on his back with disgust, "Told you they are weak."

"Pity, I do hate to deprive them of the delights of Azkaban and the hospitality and appetites of the Dementors." Umbridge joked darkly, "Never mind we have plenty more where he came from, did you record everything Mafalda?"

"Yes." Hermione managed to stutter, she hoped Harry would get here soon she didn't want to be part of another trial and see the horrors that the evil woman was inflicting on poor muggleborns which Hermione knew could easily have been her had she not been part of the Order.

"Very Good." Umbridge nodded and she pointed at the dementor, "Dispose of the body."

 **o-HP-o**

Once free of the lift and his encounter with his best friend's father, Harry didn't waste any more time and hurried through the corridors as fast as he could without running and walked straight towards the door to the Department of Mysteries before making a quick turn and jogged down the steps that led him to the old courtrooms.

As he reached Level Ten he felt the temperature drop instantly and he felt the cold suffocating presence of despair press down on him. The corridor was crowded with witches and wizards sitting on benches either side cowering in fright as a lone dementor patrolled the corridor.

Harrys hand twitched to flick out his wand and cast the patronus to banish the Dementor away and to save these people, but he couldn't if he wanted to get Hermione out safely. It had noticed him approaching and came towards him slowly and Harry heard his mother scream momentarily before he hid himself beneath as many mental barriers as he could to try and block the foul creatures influence from his mind.

As he passed the people sitting there he saw their hopelessness and despair in their eyes, the use of dementors was to keep them orderly but also to suck all the fight out of them and keep them scared and oppressed.

The Dementor didn't try to stop him or block his path, although Harry thought it had come closer probably sensing his untapped emotions that it greedily wanted to devour. It didn't take him long to find Court Room Nine as it was directly opposite his own court room.

Suddenly the door to the courtroom opened and a man was being dragged out of the room by two dementors which had grasped the man under the shoulders with scally hands and had apparently fallen unconscious from their proximity.

"Next – Mary Elizabeth Cattermole." Said a shrill high-pitched voice.

A shaking middle-aged woman stood up and looked around the corridor anxiously but didn't move until the dementors patrolling the corridor suddenly made a move towards her and she hurried inside, and Harry stepped into the room behind her and watched her go to the chair in the centre of the room.

The gallery around the room was empty which he was grateful for, but sitting high in the official's benches was Umbridge, sitting in all her glory acting as a judge to the perverted proceedings that she oversaw. Yaxley lounged bored in the seat near her and sitting just behind Umbridge was Hermione who sat with a quill in handing writing something.

A single dementor patrolled the room, however high in the vaulted ceiling were five other dementors held back by a barrier of some kind, but still able to spread their icy despair across any accused and their families while Umbridge sat up high protected by a small cat patronus.

The sight of the patronus angered Harry, he knew it was her just by looking at it and wondered how she could even cast the charm given her innate repulsive nature although saw that it was a feeble compared to the brilliance of his own.

Mrs Cattermole sat trembling in the seat in the centre of the room looking up at Umbridge with a terrified expression, while Umbridge smiled delightedly like a cat about to pounce on its prey.

Suddenly the chains sprang up from the chair and bound the witch tightly causing her to cry out in pain as they glowed cherry red.

"Be calm dear, if you become unruly I will have to have you kissed by the dementors." Umbridge said sweetly, as if she was scolding a six-year-old with telling their mother. "Now then, shall we begin?"

"M…My Husband…" Mrs Cattermole managed to stutter looking towards the door, "He…was…."

"I have him fixing my office." Yaxley sneered, "He is no doubt trying to ensure a more favourable outcome, no matter how futile given how weak a man he is."

If she could even more colour drained from the woman's face.

Harry saw Hermine shiver next to them and look at the accused woman with pity and he wondered what she had witnessed in this courtroom while he has been upstairs.

He wondered if his cloak could allow him to get to Hermione without Umbridge or Yaxley noticing but given the dementor that was patrolling the room it was not possible, it would sense him and alert them to the presence of someone unseen, so he had to take the direct approach.

Striding out into the room with a look of determination Harry moved into the view of those sat above and he hoped he was not overestimating the clout that he believed Runcorn had.

"What are you doing down here Albert?" Umbridge asked surprised, "Do you have evidence to present?"

"Sorry to interrupt but I need to speak urgently with Mafalda, I believe that someone within her department has faked their ancestry and is hiding their blood ties to filth." He said making it up on the spot, "It won't take but a few moments, apologies but they will not escape me."

"Of course." Umbridge said easily. "You must root out these deviants, especially those that sit within the heart of our ministry. Mrs Cattermole is not going anywhere."

"Thank you." Harry said giving a slight bow while he clenched his hands painfully at giving her such a gesture, she deserved to be rotting in the cells of Azkaban and exposed to the horrors of the dementors like Sirius once had been.

Hermione didn't waste a moment and trotted down the steps and crossed to where Harry stood by the entrance doorway but within sight of Umbridge who was watching them with delight.

"What are you doing?" Hermione whispered to him as they spoke in hushed tones.

"Improvising, we need to get you out of here, this potion won't last much longer." Harry muttered, and his arm glowed warm suddenly. **_RW: Done, meet in Atrium. It won't take them long to notice._** Hermione saw the message on his arm and they continued to pretend to be talking.

"Is everything alright Albert?" Umbridge asked sweetly calling over but didn't leave her throne, "You look most perturbed."

"No, I will need to take Mafalda upstairs with me, I need her testimony on record." Harry lied trying to push his previous lie as far as it would go, "I can get another scribe sent down for you?"

"Well now." Umbridge said looking at Mrs Cattermole, "There will be a ten-minute recess after which this trial will continue. Do not go anywhere Mrs Cattermole." She then turned to look back at Harry and Hermione, "Please can you send down….Mafalda?"

Harry turned to Hermione and to his horror he saw her face bubbling slightly as the potion wore off, her hair was growing out and was returning to its bushy lustre and her face was returning to normal.

He turned back and saw Umbridge's eyes suddenly bulge in recognition as Hermione stood there like a deer caught in lights. "Granger!" she hissed and then her face spun to Harry and her eyes narrowed and her face transformed into a devouring look. "POTTER!" She screamed delighted, "GET HIM NOW!"

Yaxley had already raised his wand when he saw the potion wearing off however just as he cast a curse towards them he was hit by a well-aimed stunning spell from Hermione's wand.

The curse that had streaked dangerously towards them was blocked by Harry and he turned his wand on Umbridge with great satisfaction.

"Delores, I hope you enjoyed Azkaban, as I will have you back there sooner than you think." He said nastily, she looked if possible more dangerous than ever, Azkaban had not been kind to her and she looked more deranged.

"I will kill you!" she screamed her eyes bulging and her wand raised "Avada Ke.."

Harry moved his wand almost lazily and gave his wand a small twirl and a decisive jab at the deranged toad and thought hard " _Oftenfluctus_!" A focused shockwave curse of midnight blue shot from his wand before she could utter another syllable and it hit her hard sending her through the wooden seating which splintered under the force of the spell and sent her with a hard crack into the wall behind and through the hole they could see a red smear on the wall.

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed her own wand out and letting off a white misty substance, but she wasn't focused on the magic but the dementor that had lunged for Mrs Cattermole and had grabbed her chin and pushed it back and with its other hand had moved for its hood.

"No!" Harry snarled, and he focused on his happiest memory with Sirius at Christmas surrounded by his family and friends.

" _EXPECTO PATROUNUM_!"

The stag burst from his wand in brilliant white-blue light and charged head first into the dementor sending it shrieking away into the furthest corners of the room before it chased down the others.

He looked around the court room, Umbridge was still out of sight and Yaxley was unconscious while Mrs Cattermole looked at them completely bewildered and whimpering slightly.

"We have to go." Harry said to Hermione, "now."

"What about her?" Hermione said pointing the chained woman.

"She is coming with us." Harry said frowning, wasn't it obvious?"

Hermione blinked but didn't waste another moment and obliterated the chains with a blast of magic and helped Mrs Cattermole to her feet and they quickly left through the door.

The moment the door had opened a black cloak and scally arms had lunged for Harry, having detected that the one who controlled them was no longer conscious or able and it must have known that Harry and Hermione were a threat to it.

Without using his wand and no gesture or encouragement, the white stag suddenly passed through the corridor wall and charged the dementor before it touched its master having been directed by a mental summons even if its caster hadn't known he had done it.

"All of you get up." Harry boomed, "You are going to follow me and keep calm if you do that you will get out of the Ministry and home to your families."

"What about our trials." One man said, "The aurors will arrest us."

"You will receive no fair trial here." Harry told him firmly, "your ministry has fallen, this building is under their control now, you need to flee or hide. If you can, go abroad. Britain is not safe for you now."

"How many of you have wands?" Hermione asked them and a fair number of them raised their hands. "Good, those who don't, stick with those that do, once in the atrium apparate away from here and then make your own way home or abroad."

They all nodded and clung together behind Hermione and Harry whose patronus was still circling around them protectively with its brilliant white light and warmth fending of the dementors who kept trying to get to them now the one who controlled them was unconscious.

All of them hurried up the stairs to Level Nine and packed themselves into the lift when it arrived, and they made their way up to the Atrium.

"What are we going to do now." Hermione asked quietly as she altered her appearance with charms, so she wasn't immediately recognised, "How are we going to get them out of here at once? They are going to stop us, you know they are."

Harry didn't response, he was just making this up as he went and so far, every plan they had made for this mission had gone awry the moment they got through the security checkpoint. When the lift doors opened Harry immediately knew that something was wrong, an alarm was going off and the security personnel were rounding people up and securing the atrium.

"Any ideas?" Hermione whispered to him.

"One." Harry shrugged giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but it probably wouldn't work but they only had to get to the otherwise of the security checkpoint and further down the atrium to escape. "Stay close."

Harry strolled forwards and drew himself up as tall as he could and made for the security wizards who were locking the building down and blocking of their means of escape.

"Stop!" Harry boomed, and with relief he saw that everyone stopped what they were doing and paused to watch him and the large group of people walking towards the checkpoint. The guards watched them warily and looked to each other to see what they should do but Harry spoke again to keep them from organising themselves and to get them closer to the exit. "Before this building is locked down this lot have to leave."

"They are the muggleborns who are on trial." A Security Witch said stepping forward confused, "Have they been found innocent?"

"Of course they have!" Harry spat venomously glaring at the woman, "if their blood was dirty do you think they would have left the courtroom? No! They would have been sent straight to Azkaban with the rest of the filth! Their blood is pure, purer than many of yours I don't doubt, now stand aside and let them leave. If you don't and delay my day any further, I will investigate you all like I did Dirk Creswell and if I find even a hint of dirty blood you will find yourself in the same cell as Creswell in Azkaban or better yet I will have you kissed!"

The security wizards all exchanged looks of fear and hurried aside but looked hesitant and unsure, perhaps wondering if this some big test but done were willing to try Runcorn.

With a flick of his wand the security checkpoint parted and moved aside allowing a larger opening to get the people through.

"Go." Harry snapped at those around him, hoping they wouldn't do anything foolish and had realised what he was doing, "if you dally any longer I will have you arrested for wasting my time!"

They didn't need telling twice they hurried passed Harry who began to scan the faces in the atrium looking for Ron but couldn't see him and a brief look at Hermione confirmed she hadn't either and he felt his arm grow hot suddenly.

But before Harry could look at whatever message had appeared someone shouted, and he heard running feet on the hard wooden floor.

"STOP THEM!"

Harry spun on the spot and saw Yaxley running towards them, he was dishevelled but had an entire squad of aurors with him.

"What is the meaning of this!" Harry thundered as a series of stunning spells were sent down the atrium towards them only to be blocked by Harry, behind him Hermione moved out of sight and was looking at her arm.

"The game is up boy." Yaxley smirked, "I don't know how you got through security, but I will present you to the dark lord myself."

Harry smiled himself as he saw the detainees manage to get away while the security personnel looked between him and the aurors with bewilderment. and then suddenly Harry saw red hair in the crowd and saw Ron looking at him, his own potion had worn off and he was stuck behind the aurors and couldn't get to them without being noticed.

Then his own face began to bubble and move, he became shorter and his own appearance came back and he heard a mass intake of breath of surprise from the people and they all began to mutter to themselves as the aurors spread out into a line in front of him.

Behind him he could hear people apparating away and the sound of the fires roaring and the left via the floo network which luckily remained open for now, but he doubted it would for much longer, someone would regain their senses and lock it down eventually.

"You are outnumbered boy." Yaxley pointed out, "I have the entire auror department at my disposal and reinforcements will be here momentarily."

"So you think you can take me down?" Harry laughed humourlessly, "Why do you think that your aurors can get to me when the high and mighty Lord Voldemort cannot? Why don't you try and take me into custody, we will see who is victorious but remember I defeated Voldemort as an infant, what can I do now as Lord Harrison of the Ancient House of Potter with the full power of my Ancestors coursing through my veins."

They all exchanged looks wondering if they could take him on which Harry found amusing as he was bluffing, he was not so confident now especially with Ron on the other side of the Atrium with two of their goals in his pockets and innocent people surrounding them and outnumbered and he couldn't risk not getting away.

"Attack him." Yaxley ordered and his wand point ignited as spells shot from it straight for Harry.

Following the order, the entire squad of aurors joined the attack and sent a barrage of spells towards Harry who conjured the strongest shield charm that he could muster, and it was bombarded by the aurors magic and let off an incredible flash of light.

While Harry focused on the strong auror force in front of them, Hermione deftly took care of the security people and struck them while they were distracted and kept their attention away from Harry, so he didn't have to fear an attack from behind.

She was aided by three of the detainees as they ran passed her and the struck two of the security officers down as they ran into one of the fireplaces and disappeared in a burst of green fire.

The shield that Harry conjured fractured after a third volley of curses and spells hit it and Harry lashed out at them and managed to push them backwards, and he saw Ron move with his own wand in his hand but then Harry lost him as he had to turn his attention fully to the aurors once more as he couldn't be distracted it would only take a one mistake for him to loose momentum and be caught out with their number advantage.

Whatever Ron was going to do he would need the aurors distracted and that meant that Harry needed to capture their undivided attention.

The aurors were trying to push Harry on the defensive but he smiled ruefully and began to stroll purposefully towards them straight into their spell fire which he blocked, and small smile appeared on his face as he countered their spells and was thankful that Tonks had given him the auror handbook the year before as it had taught him what spells they were using against him and how to combat standard auror formations which they were using against him.

Harry radiated strength and confidence as he moved towards them and they were shocked to see him walk towards them and seemingly effortlessly push them back. They were under a near constant onslaught of spells all of which collapsed shields and forced the aurors to duck and cover and when they managed to strike back Harry sidestepped the spell of managed to cast a shield of block it while casting the string of offensive spells without any wasted movement.

Unlike at the Wedding these aurors were not underestimating him, he wondered if they had been warned about his skills now as they were pressuring him even while he forced them on the defensive.

The cost of his push was the level of concentration and Harry had to concentrate furiously and it caused his head to pound and his eyes hurt where he had stopped blinking. This was not only magically draining as he poured as much power and strength into his spells as he could, but also mentally draining as his mind tried to keep up with the rate of his thoughts while controlling and directing magic and observing each of the aurors.

But this level of exertion couldn't be maintained forever, all Harry needed was to find any opening to take a few of them out of this duel.

Realising that they could not stop Harrys advance the aurors created an overlapping shield of power, it was not blended like Harry had taught the DA to use but it was still strong. He recognised it as a containment wall, used by aurors to prevent criminals from escaping a location or in this case stop him advancing on their position.

The downside to this type of barrier was that it only worked in a single direction and required a constant stream of power from the caster, and that was the aurors mistake. Having believed they were safe on their side of the barrier they had not noticed someone move to engage them and three of their number were knocked out from behind before they could react.

Realising they now faced a threat on two fronts the aurors and Yaxley tried to regroup but the new attacker pressed their advantage as did Harry and forced them back even further and Harry caught sight of the attacker.

For a single moment Harry's heart stopped as saw the person before his attention returned to the aurors. It looked like James Potter has joined the fight! But then Harry thought rationally and knew that it wasn't his dead father but Ron hiding behind a charm of some kind, no doubt based on Harry's appearance and his height and made him resemble James which was one of the two things that physically differentiated father from son.

Ron made to jump through the gap in the auror defences to get to Harry and the exit but the aurors had realised what he was doing and quickly retaliated at his fleeing back, realising they were pressing him with an attack Ron conjured a hasty shield charm around him as he pegged it as fast as he could while Harry tried to support his friends retreat and cover him with his own spells to stop the aurors from advancing on them.

Two aurors were sent barrelling away as Harry cut through their shields but he didn't have the time to spare to ensure that they were out of this duel, he sent another two spells at Yaxley who was now only targeting Ron having thought he was the easier target.

Ron managed to get to Harry and was breathing heavily, "So this is your exit plan then? It sucks!" He managed to say with a laugh but that laugh turned to look of shock and a streak of red light shot through this left shoulder and blood splattered Harry who had to catch his friend.

Looking up he saw Yaxley leer triumphantly, it was his piercing curse that had managed to break through whatever shield charm Ron had cast and then managed to strike him, it was well aimed but slightly off its mark.

Harry caught him heavily and looked back to the exit and realised it was too far away and carrying Ron he would not reach it in time. He poured more power into his shield charms then created two overpowered barrier wards to block the aurors path. It wouldn't stop them, but he hoped it would give him enough time to drag Ron to the exit.

The aurors knew that they now had the advantage and assaulted the first barrier which they collapsed within a minute and then began to hit the second, Harry growled as he dragged Ron who was growing heavier and limper and blood continued to pour from his wound.

Once the second barrier fell they were then at the aurors mercy, the shield charm that Harry has cast blossomed as it absorbed the impacts of their spells, but it didn't stop them all and Harry had to block others directly and unlike before he didn't have the mobility to defend himself and he was becoming tired as his overpowered shields and spells taxed his body.

From behind them a powerful wave of force shot passed overhead and Harry saw an angry and worn Hermione hurrying towards them with a look of pure fury, her sleeves were rolled up and her hair seemed to dance with the crackle of electricity.

The aurors had seen the spell she had sent and didn't bother to cast a shield as it missed them and it shattered every window overlooking the atrium and thought she had poor aim. However Hermione never intended the spell to hit the aurors and cast a second spell as she hurried towards them and pointed her wand directly at the aurors and shouted an incantation that Harry couldn't hear,

As one the shattered falling glass stopped like someone had stopped time, but then it moved and it shot at an alarming speed towards the back of the aurors. Unlike Ron's attack they had taken the precaution of shielding their backs against further attackers but the given the amount of glass it caused them to stop for enough time for Hermione to reach them.

"Harry put him down!" She cried and the moment he was on the floor she pointed her wand at him " _Petrificus Totalus! Mobilicorpus!"_ Ron suddenly became frozen and paralysed and was lifted into the air and much more mobile, "We need to move now!"

Harry didn't need telling twice and the two of them sprinted as fast as they could towards the last hearth which was open and the moment they did Hermione grabbed a hold of Rob tightly.

"There is one more thing I want to do before we leave." She said determinedly and pointed her wand down the atrium and cast a powerful blasting curse and the aurors didn't even react to it and thinking she was creating another rear assault they got ready to defend themselves from whatever she did.

Her target however had been the statue that sat in the fountain and it exploded with massive force and its pieces flew heavily in every direction and the aurors stopped several them from colliding with them while others collided with the walls and floor.

"Nice." Harry nodded grimly, and he cast his own spell at the large stretch of wall to his right and the very end of the atrium, it was something Ron had wanted to do but couldn't, so Harry wanted to do it for him.

The aurors were almost on them and spells were hitting the hearth and chunks of the stone were chipped away, but then Hermione grabbed hold of him tightly and then she twisted, and they were gone.

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	7. Chapter 7

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Seven**

 **Exhaustive Anger**

Harry felt the hard concrete hit his feet as he landed heavily on the balcony and relished the open air and felt the heat of the early morning sun hitting his face as it rose over London. The feeling of freedom didn't last as he opened his eyes and saw Ron levitating in front of him, pale and covered in blood and completely immobilised.

Next to him Hermione let go of him and shakily levitated Ron through the cracked windowed door and directed him towards the dirty sofa.

"Not there." Harry told her as he followed, "The table."

She looked at him momentarily but didn't question him and placed Ron onto the table carefully as if scared to disturb his body.

While she was hovering over Ron, Harry hurried to the sideboard and picked up Hermione's beaded bag and looked inside at the jumble of belongings inside and realised he wouldn't be able to find anything by sight or touch.

" _Accio Trunk!_ "

His leather-bound trunk shot out of the bag and he clumsily caught it and placed int on the floor and magically expanded it back to its regular size.

Wounds caused by magics were among the hardest to heal, which was only further complicated if it was inflicted by dark magic. Harry was not sure if he had the necessary skill to heal Ron, this was the worst injuries he had ever contemplated healing himself, so he wanted to be prepared for any eventuality that he could think of.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione cried, holding on to Rons hand tightly as she looked at him. "I don't know how to heal this much damage, he needs a healer, do you think we can risk St Mungo's? We could disguise him!"

"He will be fine." Harry said trying to reassure her while pulling out his potions kit and extracted three vials of potion and then pulled out two books from the other compartment of the trunk and he frowned thinking of other potions he might need. "Where is our Potion bag?"

"In the bag." Hermione said hurrying over and summoned a large old leather bag from within and opened it and he heard the clinking of numerous glass bottles and vials, many of which they had stolen from the Burrow while others they had made themselves.

Flicking through his books, Harry turned to the pages that detailed the areas of the shoulder and how it all worked, including a diagram of magical focal points for channelling healing magic and the other contained guides to combating severe trauma.

Taking it all over to the table he set it all down within easy reach and then turned his attention to his friends blood-stained shoulder, he turned his wand on his friend and his robes cut open with a loud rip in the otherwise silent flat and exposed the injury which garnered a gasp from Hermione.

The shoulder was a mess, the bone had shattered as the spell had gone through, muscle had been shredded but as Harry studied it closely he thought it could have been much worse than it was. It was also fortunate that it was a mere curse that had done the damage and not a dark magic spell as combating that would have made his job now even more complicated and would have testing his knowledge of magic beyond what he was comfortable with.

But even now Harry felt hesitant to begin the work, healing magic was a complex branch of magic and this amount of trauma complicated the process and his teachers and books had all lectured on the effect badly applied healing magic or untrained healers could do, a healer could do more harm than good.

Harry knew that he had no choice but to heal Ron, but he wished he had a chance to rest as he was exhausted, both magically from the fight but also physically due to the lack of sleep, he also knew that they could not leave Ron suspended indefinitely as even now he was losing blood.

"What's wrong?" Hermione said looking worried as she looked between Ron and Harry, "Why haven't you started. Can't you do it? I said we needed a healer!"

"Please be quiet!" Harry snapped harshly before sighing, "Sorry. Having you hover over us is not helping me concentrate."

Closing her mouth and bitting her lip Hermione stepped away from Rons unconscious form and gave Harry some space which he was appreciative for and he regretted snapping at her but of the two of them he had more training in healing and was the calmer of them both.

Circling his wand above the wound, he magically probed it and took a detailed analysis of the injury and he became acutely aware how fortunate Ron was, luck had favoured him when Yaxleys aim had been off by only a few inches, if it hadn't been Ron would not be laying there now.

He still had to live through the healing process, Harry found himself reminding himself sternly.

Remembering his lessons from Durmstrang he thought of what spells were needed and recalled their incantations and wand movements and mentally prepared himself to begin to apply the magic that would gradually restore Ron's body.

The spells needed were not simple and he had to mutter them constantly, and the incantations fell from his tongue like a low murmured song all the while he twirled his wand and directed the magic into his friend's shoulder.

Mending a broken bone was simple enough normally if it was just a straightforward break, however Rons shoulder had shattered into numerous pieces which required intricate magical intervention to make the bone reform correctly and to pull splinters from where they had scattered and prevent them from causing more harm.

Once the bone was reformed Harry directed his magic to vessels that had been compromised and worked methodically to restore blood flow and once he was sure he had sealed all of them he removed the body-bind from Ron and instead stunned him and monitored his shoulder for several minutes and was looking for any sign of bleeding or leakage and found only two which he fixed.

Lastly, he had to repair the tissue damage, reattaching muscles to the bones and reweaving the muscle tissues together into a whole and preventing the formation of scar tissue, it was a delicate process as if done wrong could prevent Ron having full use of his shoulder.

Harry had been forced to rely on his books for the spells needed for this part, but eventually it was done and then healed the damage to the skin and all that remained was a patch of raw red skin on either side of his torso.

Suddenly a hand reached into his view and startled him.

"Dittany will help." Hermione said as she dropped a few drops onto the wound sites, "Do we bandage it?"

"Yes." Harry said stepping away and suddenly became acutely aware of how tired he was. "It would be best if he wore a sling too, he needs to rest the shoulder while his body recovers, healing magic only does so much, the rest is down to Ron. Give him the blood replenishing potion, and a nutrient booster too, the Skele-grow can go back in my kit."

"Sure." Hermione said, and she applied a number of drops of the potion to Ron's shoulder which smoked as it landed and looked up at Harry and looked worried, "Harry are you okay? You've gone really pale."

"I'm fine." Harry said smiling weakly and he fell backwards onto the sofa, "It just took a lot out of me."

Hermione nodded but didn't stop watching him closely as he sat trying to collect himself and he made sure to hide his shaking hands from her. She finished caring for Ron and bound his arm and shoulder in a bandage sling very carefully and Harry had to smirk at how gingerly she had touched Ron's bare chest and noticed the slight blush.

With a whisper Hermione removed the stunning spell from Ron but he did not wake immediately, and she looked alarmed.

"He will wake up when he is ready." Harry assured her, "The healing process is a shock to the body, he should wake up in a few minutes.

Closing his eyes, he tried to massage the pain in his head away through his temples, his head was throbbing, and his mind became foggy. The connection between him and Voldemort flared and pulsed dangerously, and Harry felt a flicker of emotions that were not his own before he closed the connection off, only to cause himself more pain as his headache grew worse from the effort.

Harry was not sure how long he sat there half unconscious on the sofa, but he jerked awake when Ron came to and moved only to groan painfully.

"Ouch," Ron managed to say, "Well that didn't go according to plan."

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed happily moving over to him looking relieved. "How do you feel?"

"Great." Ron snorted and winced as he pulled his shoulder and Hermione helped him up into a sitting position and he gently prodded the area where the curse had exploded through his body but could only feel the bandages and a little discomfort. "Who healed me?"

Harry did not trust himself to answer as his vision blurred again and he momentarily was gone from the flat and was instead walking down a busy street seemingly invisible to the muggles around him. He returned to the flat and caught the end of Hermione's answer.

"… I couldn't have done it, I wanted to take you to a healer, but Harry managed it."

"Thanks. I know it took a lot of work" Ron said appreciatively, and with his good arm he reached out and managed to extract a large lump of quartz and then an eagle feather quill along with an ancient crude-glass inkwell. "Now question is, what do we do with these? And where are the files you got Harry?"

"I didn't take them." Harry said his voice cracking, "there were too many and they were impervious to damage, I needed to be quick, so I did the only thing I could. I hid them under a Fidelius Charm."

Both Hermione and Ron nodded in approval, trusting that it was the only thing he could do.

"I passed the secret to your father Ron. It will be down to the Order to get those files, but we stopped the Ministry from using them at least." Harry added, but decided to keep quiet about the full conversation with Mr Weasley, Ron didn't need to know his father was endangering himself.

"Well we at least achieved our goals, even if our plan fell apart from the offset." Hermione said, and she looked disappointed, "I failed you two today, I did nothing to help our mission in the Ministry, I was the liability."

"No." Ron said firmly, "Each of us went in with a part to play, any one of us could have been pulled away and trapped like you were. In the end I only managed to get the Quill and Trace because you made me memorise every part of our plans, so I just did what you were going to do."

"Not only that, but because you got pulled away we were able to save all of those muggleborns on trial today." Harry said agreeing with Ron's view, "However you protected my back in the Atrium while I focused on the aurors. Do not think I do not know that it was because of you that our exit was not sealed during our fight, the Death Eaters or Aurors should have completed the lockdown but for some reason that one fireplace remained open?"

"Harry that was nothing!" She said humbly, "You fought off an entire squad of Aurors and a Death Eater all but singlehandedly. The power you expelled was unbelievable it could be felt throughout the Atrium."

Harry laughed humourlessly, "Those aurors were trying to apprehend me, not aiming to kill or seriously injure. I knew that if I showed no sign of weakness or tiring they would hesitate in their attacks and be unsure as to the extent of my abilities. But remember I had you protecting my back and Ron created a distraction to allow me to push my advantage. I bet they were also already hesitant to properly challenge me because by now the entire auror office knows what I am capable off after the attack at the wedding."

It might sound like he was boasting, but Harry was just being honest to them. He knew he was a skilled and powerful duellist now, he had been improving his skills for years due to the threats against him, to be humble about that would be to understate the situation within the Ministry.

Both of his friends frowned, and Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Ron spoke over her and gave her a "Drop it" sort of look.

"Well we did what we set out to do." Ron said indicating to their prizes, "What do we do now? Pass them to the Order or hide them?"

Harry hadn't really thought about what they would do once they had what they came for but was saved by Hermione.

"We should pass them to the Order, they will be better positioned to help people with them." She said firmly, "that is their role in this war, protecting who they can with the resources that they have. We have a bigger role, we have to be free to find those Horcruxes now that this threat has been neutralised."

Neither Harry or Ron disagreed with her, it was after all why they had set off to begin with before Harry had side-tracked them with this mission.

"Works for me." Ron shrugged only to grimace as his shoulder pained him, "What do we do then? Leave it where the Order will find them? Or do we send them a message?"

"No." Hermione said, "That's too risky, what happens if they are intercepted."

"We need to meet someone from the Order then." Ron said, "But we can't just apparate to the Burrow and leaving it with my mum and dad."

Harry agreed, especially given the file he had found in Umbridge's office. "No, we need to arrange an exchange on our own terms, in a way that will not allow anyone to intercept or listen in."

"A tall order." Ron whistled, "Any ideas? As I'm stumped."

"Let me think on it." Hermione said, and she looked at them both critically, you two need to sleep I will keep watch."

Neither Harry or Ron complained, and they were all but sent to their respective rooms while Hermione began to study what they had stolen from the ministry.

 **o-HP-o**

Many of the members of the Order were still working within the Ministry of Magic, hiding within the new regime to keep watch from the inside and to be ready to strike back when the moment came but they all knew the risks of their being within walls of what was perhaps the most dangerous in Britain.

The Order knew that they were targets and their identities had been compromised by Snape but many of them needed to work. While others only remained in their employment to try and help where they could and get intelligence which the Order could use.

But they were unable to do much of anything, the Death Eaters who controlled the ministry kept the suspected Order members away from anything sensitive or any key locations.

Some like Kingsley and Moody were being closely watched and sent on pointless assignments that kept them away from the ministry and prevented them from interfering but allow the Ministry to monitor them closely.

While other members of the Order had been forced to leave their employment due to the risks of their blood status.

Tonks had not returned to work following the Wedding, not only because she was pregnant but because she was a target of her deranged aunt Bellatrix. While she hadn't been seen for weeks, Andromeda had convinced Tonks to stay at home for the safety of the baby she was carrying.

She often called on the Burrow when Remus was out of the house, which was often these days. Tonks had noticed how distant her husband had become of late, he was avoiding her, and she did not know why.

"So how are things with Remus dear?" Molly said stetting a cup of tea down in front of her, "Have things changed?"

"No Molly." She admitted sadly and held her belly seeking comfort from the child carried, "he is pulling away from me, he is angry all of the time. I don't know what is wrong with him, we were so happy and now we are not."

"He is probably just scared dear." Molly said consolingly, "he is to become a father late in life, and during a war, it does strange things to men."

"I think there is something else." Tonks admitted, "I still haven't told mum, if she knew how bad things are getting between us I think she might curse him. She cannot wait to meet her grandchild."

"Have you thought anymore about names?" Molly asked, "Have the two of you even discussed them?"

"No." Tonks sighed, "If it is a boy I thought to name him Sirius…but I don't think Remus could stand it, he still grieves."

"We all do." Molly said taking a sip of tea and wiping a tear from her eye, "Remus is not alone in that regard, I may not have agreed with Sirius in the beginning, but he was good for Harry, and for our community."

"I miss him." Tonks told her hugging her arms, "I missed him when he was in Azkaban even when we thought he was a Death Eater, I could never forget my only cousin who taught me how to get in trouble. Now I miss him as the rock of the family, one we could always turn to if we needed help. I could use his help now, if anyone could help me with Remus it would be Sirius."

The clock on the sideboard chimed and it was five in the afternoon and Arthurs hand was moving to travelling and then it settled on home.

Molly looked relieved as she looked out of the window as saw her husband crossing the yard.

"I should go." Tonks said sadly, "I will leave you to it, thank you for the sympathy Molly."

"No stay for dinner dear." Molly stated, "Ginny will be back from visiting Hemlock Hall with Luna soon, she will be happy to see you."

Before Tonks could argue any more the backdoor opened to reveal a haggard looking Arthur Weasley, but he was smiling broadly.

"What is it Arthur?" Molly asked he was late home and she had been getting worried and had only known him to be fine due to the clock, "What has happened?"

"There was an incursion on the ministry today, around thirty muggleborns were rescued from the Commission," Arthur told them and saw their shocked faces, "the infiltrations bypassed all of the new security and passed the guards."

"It wasn't us was it?" Tonks asked, "I know we have discussed sabotaging the Commission, but I thought we didn't agree on a way of doing it that didn't risk lives."

"Its not only the Commission that was targeted." Arthur said laughing now, "according to some, the Trace has also been sabotaged and the Hogwarts Registry Quill has also been taken. I was given this file to review too, by none other than Albert Runcorn…"

Arthur handed the folder to Tonks who opened it and her mouth opened in surprise and she flicked through the sheets of parchment that detailed every member of the Order that Ministry and by extension the Death Eaters were aware of.

"Runcorn gave you this?!" Tonks asked shocked, "But I thought he was the lead investigator for the Commission?"

"Runcorn is." Mr Weasley nodded, "Look at the front page, he said he left me a lead to follow too."

Tonks flicked to the first page and saw on the side of the folder written in black ink was a message.

 _'The Ministry records of all muggleborns past and present who reside in the British Isles may be found in File Room within the office of the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic.'_

"That's…." Tonks said looking up in surprise, she knew that handwriting.

"A fight broke out between the aurors and the intruders as they fled the Ministry, and before they escaped they managed to destroy the new statue but also left a message burning on the wall that they have still not been able to remove." Arthur finished smiling knowingly at Tonks, " _Like a phoenix, liberty will reborn from the ashes of this new regime_. That was the message and it came with an image of a phoenix devouring the dark mark."

"Oh." Molly cried out looking terrified, "It was them wasn't it? Oh, how could it not be."

"Yes." Arthur said proudly, "They have been gone for only a few weeks and they have struck a hard blow to the Death Eaters today. They have undermined their control of our community, something we, the Order have not been able to do, we couldn't even find a way in!"

The three of them exchanged resigned looks and then Mrs Weasley ushered her husband into a chair and made him a cup of tea so that they could get the rest of the story out of him.

 **o-HP-o**

Harry woke with a start and was breathing heavily and was dripping with sweat and his head pounded painfully, and he cursed Voldemort and the infernal connection between them both for never allowing him peace.

While he did not feel well rested, he was at least no longer tired, and his body no longer ached, and some strength had returned to his limbs and stopped them shaking.

He removed the silencing ward he had placed round himself before he had slept to prevent the others hearing him in case he shouted out in his sleep or worse spoke as Voldemort while he was within his mind.

The door to his room was closed an it was dark outside so assumed it was early evening and his stomach rumbled making his hunger known. He conjured a towel and wiped the sweat from his brow but realised he needed a bath but first he needed to eat.

Stepping into the living area he saw Hermione and Ron sitting eating at the table where only hours before Ron had lay bleeding.

"Is there any more of that?" Harry asked them quietly and his voice rasped slightly as his throat was sore.

"Harry!" Hermione cried out looking truly relieved, "We have been trying to wake you for hours."

"Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well and that fight really knocked the stuffing out of me." He said in a poor attempt at humour which only caused him to yawn wildly. He sat in the chair Hermione ushered him into while she went to get him some of the food leaving him to conjure himself a glass of water.

"Harry do you know what time it is?" Hermione asked as she came back with a bowl of thick vegetable soup, it was basic, but it was hot, and the slightly stale bread was fine once dunked into it. "It is almost midnight, you have been out all this time. You weren't sleeping peacefully either."

There was a pregnant silence after she spoke, she was trying to get him to talk but he wasn't going to bite and instead focused on filling his belly with the soup and had to fight the impulse to bring it back up again as his thoughts turned to his dreams.

Hermione did not give up that easily though.

"Your silencing ward stopped us from hearing you Harry, but I saw you screaming in pain when I came to check on you." Hermione told him, "Was it your scar?"

Harry sighed as he pushed he pushed the bowl away only managing to eat half of it, but she had managed to put him of the rest, his stomach was rebelling against even the small amount he had downed. Instead he sat and aimlessly pulled apart the bread in his hands.

"It wasn't just my scar." He told her, he saw that Hermione was watching him closely looking worried while Ron tried to give him space and not look he was prying but was also listening. "I was trapped within his mind for a time and saw what he was doing…. But then I escaped him and the horrors of his mind, but I found myself in a nightmare, which I think might be worse."

Hermione didn't push him now, Hermione looked at him patiently while Ron kept his attention on his plate but was listening but was trying not look like he wasn't.

"I have been having recurring dreams, two of them, one of is of the things that I have done to stay alive and the harm I have done to others. The other is…" Harry managed to get out before his throat locked and he couldn't put a voice to his shame.

"Is about Sirius?" Hermione finished for him, and Harry looked up at her surprised. "I told you I checked on you and had tried to wake you up. I might not have been able to hear you, but I could read your lips enough to know you were screaming Sirius's name. What was the dream about?"

Harry looked at her for a long moment, he didn't want to answer her but felt compelled to do so, "I feel like I am trapped in darkness, I feel aguish, fear and helplessness the entire time and its overwhelming. I know that feeling and know what it means, its like a smell that rises up at the back of your mouth, like a metallic tang that make you feel sick. Then Sirius appears in front of me but cannot reach me, he calls to me, but I cannot hear him, he screams at me but still the words do not reach my ear. I stand in front of him unable to help him and unable to understand what it is that he wants from me."

As he spoke Hermione's eyes went wide and filled with tears, but she remained silent and allowed him to vent his frustration and underlining fear.

"I think he is haunting me, he blames me for his death." He admitted quietly, it was the first time he had voiced his thought out loud.

"Don't be stupid." Ron said sounding unusually serious, "Sirius would never blame you for his death, especially since he knew you had been kidnapped, you wouldn't have been able to help him. But more than that, Sirius would have taken the killing curse if it meant saving your life Harry. He loved you, never forget that."

"Then why is he screaming at me?" Harry asked them, "I know its just a dream and it doesn't mean anything, but I just feel like there is more to it than that. More than my own fear and guilt."

"Ron is right Harry." Hermione said tightly, "Sirius would never blame you, and your blaming yourself for things you couldn't control. You used to have nightmares about the graveyard after the tournament too, they passed in time."

"You not got any dreamless sleeping potion in that beaded bag?" Ron asked, "it will allow Harry to get some proper rest, I mean I am the injured one here who lost a load of blood, but he looks like an inferi."

Harry snorted despite himself and managed a wane smile which made his friends smile in return.

"I wouldn't take it even if we did." Harry told Ron, "It is addictive and self-medicating is not the answer here. If I could stand the taste of coffee that would help me, but the taste is foul, think we could get hold of Madraxa Nectar?" It was a plant he had used while in the Black Hunting lodge to counter the effects of sleep deprivation thanks to its stimulant properties.

"That's the stuff the upper years always peddle during the last few months of the NEWTS isn't it?" Ron asked, "Fred and George often used it when they worked into the night of some product or another, think you can only get it from an apothecary. Hogwarts had a black-market of the nectar as it was in short supply and in high demand."

"It's not a drug though is it?" Hermione asked, "I always thought it was a controlled substance."

"Not at all." Ron laughed, "It's just an uncommon plant as it's hard to grow, the nectar is used to make stimulant drinks to help you stay away longer. It is stronger than coffee but isn't bitter and it was kind of fruity. Dad used to occasionally have Madraxa tea if he was on a double shift or working nights, think he got a box of the tea from Perkins, but he used it all and never bought it again."

Hermione considered that for a minute, "Well its not a common potion ingredient and I don't have any and I assume you don't either Harry, do we risk a trip to an apothecary?"

"No." Harry said resigned to the fact he wouldn't get any caffeinated help to keep him alert, "While I slept did you come up with any way to contact the Order, we know they are being watched so we have to be careful plus we need to move on to the Horcruxes."

The two of them exchanged a look and then Hermione nodded to Ron.

"Well we thought about passing a message on through Ginny or the twins through our DA communicators but if we did that we would tell all of the DA where we were or will be." Ron explained, "We thought about an owl, but they could be intercepted, muggle means are also out as was direct contact."

"A Patronus could work." Hermione added, "I can make them talk now but what if it was seen, who is to say that any member of the order was alone when the message reached them, it could draw unwanted attention to them and to us."

"So, you didn't find one?" Harry asked having only heard no so far.

"Well there is one way that could work but it all depends on clarification from you which was why we needed you to wake up." Ron told him smirking.

"What is it?" Harry asked wondering what they could have come up with.

"You and Sirius used to communicate through two-way mirrors." Ron said quickly trying to skirt around the subject of Sirius, "they cannot be intercepted, but we know that they had specific security measures applied to them. If the Order used Sirius's mirror we could speak to them, but could they make it work?"

"Of course!" Harry shouted, wondering how get could have forgotten the mirrors that the marauders had created to speak to each other, or more accurately how his father had worked some type of magic to create them but frowned as he considered what Ron said further. "The mirrors would be ideal, but the Order wouldn't have access to Sirius's mirror, I don't actually know where it is either, but it will be sealed within Black House somewhere with his other things."

"Oh." Ron said glumly, "that was our only idea."

Harry saw how dejected the two of them looked and smirked.

"Your forgetting something though." Harry said, "There were four marauders and four mirrors. Now there are two of the first and three of the latter. So, your idea could still work even without Sirius's mirror…."

Walking over to his trunk he opened the first compartment and looked through it until he pulled out a small rectangular mirror with a stag engraving on the back.

"Let's just hope that Remus still keeps his mirror close." Harry told them, and he peered into the mirror and saw his reflection and grimaced, he didn't look great at all and knew his appearance would worry Remus, but they didn't have much choice, so he spoke into the glass.

"Remus Lupin."

 **o-HP-o**

To say Remus had been relieved to hear from them was an understatement, he had answered within moments of his own mirror glowing white as its magic activated and had scolded Harry profusely for having not having thought to keep his mirror close enough to answer a call but also for not checking in sooner.

However, he readily agreed to meet them and was glad to see that the three of them were cautious even now.

While the mirrors were protected through magic and were keyed to the bloodline of the marauder who they were in-tuned to that did not mean that the Death Eaters couldn't bypass the protection that had been placed on them by school students.

In the end they told Remus to meet them somewhere in muggle London, it was public, and they would meet him to take him to their hiding spot by side-long apparition blind folded.

It was Hermione who retrieved Remus from Hyde Park, she was cautious and had him disarmed and blindfolded quick enough, but she took her time to check him for any sign of magical tracers or monitoring spells. She then brought him to the flat herself.

"You know as your ex-defence against the dark arts teacher I have to take pride in your precautions but is the blind-fold really necessary Hermione." Remus complained with a laugh as she led him into the living room and he hit his elbow on the door frame. "The full moon is in two days, my senses have expanded with my looming transition, I can smell Ron and Harry standing there."

"Did he pass your checks?" Harry asked Hermione and she nodded. "If you pass mine then I will release you."

"Fire away then Harry." Remus said calmly.

"When was the last time that two of us fought, where was it and how was it fought and who was the victor?"

Hermione and Ron looked confused at his vague question, but Remus shook his head and snorted.

"You had to bring up that didn't you!" He said, if he hadn't been blindfolded Harry was sure Remus had rolled his eyes, "A good question all the same. It was fought the night of the full moon at Hogwarts, the night I escaped my classroom while under the influence of contaminated wolfsbane. It was fought with tooth and claw. A rabid werewolf versus a young direwolf. The victor was you and I still have the scars to prove it."

Smiling Harry removed the blindfold and the magical restraints with a lazy flick of his wand and returned it to its holster.

"It is good to see you Remus." Harry admitted, his surrogate uncle looked tired and worse for wear which could be down to the impending full moon, but he looked more ragged than normal like something was weighing him down more than his time of the month.

"You too, all of you! I am happy to see your safe." He said, and he looked them all over and his eyes focused on Ron's arm in a sling, "what happened? Do you need me to take a look?"

"We are fine." Ron said eagerly shrugging of his concern, "How is everyone else?"

"Good. Your family are worried about you of course but they are fine." Remus assured him.

"What happened after the wedding?" Hermione asked, "did everyone get away?"

"They did." Remus said, "the Death Eaters apprehended the Weasleys and those that remained, they were interrogated but were not guilty of any known crimes. Your criminal status only went into effect minutes before the aurors arrived to arrest you so therefore no one was guilty. Arthur was justified to defend his home and his guests from hostile threats in accordance with the Ancient Testimonies, so he was not arrested for attacking the aurors either."

Ron had looked anxious as Remus began to recount what had happened but by the end he looked relieved and content to know that his family was safe for now.

They settled themselves on the sofa while Remus sat in the armchair that was ready to fall apart at any moment, he pulled out bottles of butterbeer from the inner pockets of his robes and gave them out all the while taking in every part of the flat and them one at a time.

"What?" Ron said uncomfortably after the silence became too much for him which was to say it lasted two minutes.

Remus rolled his eyes, "So I'm going to have to prompt an explanation out of you, am I? Well care to explain this wild rumour that has swept the country that Harrison Black-Potter led a raid on the Ministry of Magic this morning and made off with some valuable ministry property and vandalised the heart of the British magical government?"

The three of them exchanged a look between them and burst out laughing.

"Well that's about the crux of it." Hermione laughed, "What more do you want to know."

"How in the name of Merlin did you get into the ministry and passed all of that security for a start!" Remus demanded, "We have been trying to work out a way to do it since the wedding but got no where but the three of you managed to get in and out on your first go."

They spent an hour explaining to Remus how they managed to get inside the ministry and how they had prepared for whatever they might find and their surveillance of the employees prior to getting inside.

For the most part Remus sat silent as he took in what they said, only occasionally asking a question or asking for clarification but let them do the talking. They had tried to avoid the topic of their abduction of a ministry employee and the extraction of his thoughts and the memory removal, but Remus noticed the hole and got it out of them in the end.

"I might not like it, but your methods here got you results, this is a war after all and we cannot fight it with one hand tied behind our backs when our enemies fight with every tool in their arsenal." He said carefully, "But we must be careful we do not turn into the very people we are fighting against."

It was an uncomfortable comment to make as all three of them hated what they had done, none more so that Harry as it had been him who had broken into the man's mind although it had been Hermione who had taken his memories, he wasn't sure which was worse in hindsight.

After a further two hours they finished recounting their entire foray into the ministry and what they had done and seen and how they had managed it.

Remus whistled as they finished and regarded them with unconcealed respect.

"If the Order had known about your mission we would have probably stopped you believing it to be a folly and you would end up captured." Remus told them, "However you have shown just how resourceful you are, many will be very surprised. Albus always said that you three were amongst the most resourceful, determined and inquisitive students he had seen, and that together you could overcome almost any hurdle in your way. After all these years of exploits at Hogwarts you could argue you have been training for this war!"

"You could say that again." Ron agreed, and he walked over to the beaded bag and extracted the Trace and Registry. "We need the Order to make good use of these, the Death Eaters would use them to catch muggleborns and in-prison them or worse. The Order needs to protect them."

"Of course." Remus said taking them and he looked keenly at the trace, no doubt he would find the magic as fascinating as Hermione had but quickly stowed it away in his pockets, "The Order has already begun to reach out to some of the muggleborns we know of and have placed them in hiding. However, with the records hidden from the Death Eaters we have more time to move them. It won't be easy to access them ourselves but that is still preferable to them having open access to them."

"Has the Order been able to do anything?" Ron asked.

Remus shook his head, "We know we are being watched, some of us are better at loosing our tails that others. Moody and Kingsley are still working in the Auror office however both are known members of the Order and are being monitored very closely."

"Moody is still there?" Harry asked surprised.

"He is not happy about it." Remus snorted, "But Alastor knows that for now he needs to keep up the charade, but the Death Eaters just need an excuse to target them both or they will just kill him. To say Alastors paranoia has reached new levels would be an understatement."

"But you are trying to fight aren't you?" Hermione asked desperately, "You have to be doing something!"

"We do what we can, which isn't much really." Remus told her sadly, "Are numbers are small, we have just enough of us to help rescue a few muggleborns or take down small groups of death eaters or even dementor hordes. We cannot get the truth out either, we don't control the paper."

"Did our message reach the Prophet?" Hermione interjected, "Ron hoped that the message we left would get out and give people hope."

"It was a good thought." Remus smiled weakly, "But the Prophet is under the complete control of the Ministry of Magic. Ownership of the paper matters not anymore; the Editor is printing what the Ministry orders out of fear for his and his family's safety. However, your message is getting out there, being passed by word of mouth."

Ron shrugged despondently, it had been his idea but at least it was still out there.

"Any other news we should be aware of?" Hermione asked, "What has the Death Eater response been?"

"Well the ministry was placed in lockdown all day until they were sure you hadn't stolen anything else, it took them a long while to realise that the records were gone given the justice you gave to the hag." Remus said, and the last part was added with pure venom and his eyed seemed to glow amber for a moment, "However eventually a statement was released to the public."

 **THE MINISTRY COMBAT TERRORIST PLOT IN THE HEART OF THE MINISTRY**

 **Yesterday morning, the fugitive Harry Potter led an all-out attack at the heart of British Magical Community. The security forces were able to combat this attempt to destroy our Ministry and the livelihood of our hard-working ministry employees and drove him out of the Ministry.**

 **We do not know what Potters aim was, however our aurors were more than a match for the fabled Boy-Who-Lived and was forced to run away with his tail firmly between his legs. As he was unable to penetrate further into the Ministry, Potter turned to the wanton destruction of Ministry Property.**

 **It is believed that Potter was aided by accomplices, one of whom was positively identified as the false-witch Hermione Granger, who studied at Hogwarts with Potter. The other accomplice was not identified however the ministry using every tool at its command to bring these fugitives to justice.**

 **This unprecedented attack on our Ministry only further highlights that Lord Black-Potter is an unstable rogue element of our community and is a danger to all witches and wizards and must be brought to heel.**

 **Potter is currently wanted in connection to the death of the late Amelia Bones and the death of Sirius Black. An inside source within the special investigations department has leaked that there is overwhelming evidence that Black was killed by his adoptive son so that he might usurp his lordship.**

 **Minister Thicknesse who had previously signed the warrant for Harry Potters arrest has also added the charges for Treason and sedition and calls on any of have knowledge of his whereabouts to come forward.**

 **However, the Minister has also issued a warning that should anyone be found harbouring the fugitives or aiding them in anyway will also face a sentence for treason.**

Harrys blood boiled as he read it, and his hands shook, how dare they accuse him of being complicit in those murders.

"It doesn't paint a pretty picture does it." Remus said seeing Harrys reaction, "And people do believe this. What you must realise is that most members of our community have never met you, their opinions of you come from the articles about you and they are also scared, and scared misinformed people can do terrible things."

Harrys head shot up at this outraged.

"However, those that know you will not believe this." Hermione said looking revolted, "How dare they bring Sirius into this."

"The fact they did might actually be a good thing." Remus said sounding surprisingly optimistic, "it will actually create doubt in the validity of this story, especially as Patricide is a dangerous crime for one of the Ancient Houses. There are old stories of what happened to sons who killed their fathers and what their family magic did to them in retaliation for the perversion."

"Do we know anything else that is going on in the Ministry?" Hermione asked, "Have the retaliated?"

"Dementors now roam freely across the country, preying on anyone they choose. Giants have also been seen in their long-abandoned territories in our mountains." Remus told them, "We believe the Death Eaters will be looking to consolidate their control further now, Hogwarts will be next. They have the student rosters for the previous years they can find current students easily even without the records and the quill."

Ron suddenly laughed, and they looked at him curiously.

"Well the Death Eaters will struggle to control Hogwarts." Ron said, and he saw that they didn't understand what he found funny so explained more, "Think about it, our friends know us, and they know the truth behind all the crap in the paper. They will not stand for it and will most probably rebel like we did while Umbridge was at Hogwarts. Snape was hated as Potions Master, as Headmaster he will be despised even more, are there any other changes to the teachers?"

"We don't know." Remus admitted, and he looked worried as he thought about his answer, "The faculty has not been seen since Snape was named as Headmaster, they haven't reached out to us and we worry if we try and make contact we will do them more harm. However, given the new laws the school will see an influx of students, so they might install more Death Eaters. For now, we can only watch and wait and hope that teachers like McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn will protect the students."

Harry suddenly felt the need for them to move on, he didn't like the idea of the Death Eaters having so much control and knew that worse was yet to come and he needed to stop them.

"Remus, you have the Trace and Registry, take them back to the Order." Harry said firmly, "The Order must ensure that those targeted by the Death Eaters are protected, but you must also ensure that the truth is told."

He picked up the paper and glared at it.

"This is filled with lies and propaganda, the people must know the truth otherwise they will buy into this madness." He said, "We cannot allow the Death Eaters free reign, we have to cut off their heads one at a time."

Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement, but Remus was hesitant, and he regarded him.

"I'll understand if you can't confirm this, Harry, But we, the Order. We are under the impression that you are out here on some type of mission?" He said delicately while studding him closely for any signs of emotion on his face, "We believe that Dumbledore left you this mission, and that Sirius was also aware of it and that is why you were both out of the castle that night when the Death Eaters go in."

"What of it?" Harry asked frowning, "the Order knows that I intend to fight in this war."

"Yes of course." Remus said hastily, "But can you confide in me what it is your doing out here, and without help?"

"No." Harry said, and he wished he could tell Remus the truth, he really did but he knew that their mission had to remain secret. He would trust Remus with his life, but this was something that Harry felt he had to do, he and his friends alone.

"Sorry Remus, but it really is for the best you don't know." Hermione added coming to help Harry.

To his credit Remus didn't look surprised by this, although perhaps disappointed, he was after all a curious person by nature. "I expected as much. However, I still might be of use to you, even if I don't know what it is that you are doing. You could have need of my skills and my knowledge, you don't have to tell me anything and I won't ask questions."

Harry looked at him surprised, it was a tempting offer to take Remus with them, he would be a good companion and could probably help them. But keeping the mission a secret from him would be impossible and his keen mind would eventually deduce it even if they tried.

However, there was something else that bugged Harry, he heard it in his tone as he spoke. It almost seemed like Remus was pleading to come along with them.

Hermione had also heard something in his words and she looked at him puzzled and asked.

"What about Tonks?" she asked.

"What about her." Remus asked simply, like he was just enquiring about her health with a hint of disinterest."

Now Hermione was frowning, "She is your wife. How does she feel about you offering your services to us?"

"Dora will be fine." Remus said waving her off, "She will stay at her parent's house where she will be safe."

Hermione exchanged a look with Ron and Harry, something else was going on here for if there was anyone who would not be content to sit on the side-lines it would be Tonks, if she had wanted safe she would never have become an auror or joined the Order.

"Remus?" Hermione asked, very unsure of herself now, "is everything ok? Erm…with you and Tonks?"

"Everything is fine!" Remus snapped dangerously his eyes glinting with molten amber, snapping like a vicious dog.

Hermione withdrew like he had bitten her and flushed pink, but they were left with an awkward and embarrassed pause with Ron looking between them all bewildered while Harry just stared shrewdly at Remus.

Eventually Remus squirmed under his gaze and let out a deep sigh and all but chewed on the words he spoke before he uttered them, as if they were something very unpleasant and pained him greatly.

"Dora is pregnant." He said in a low voice.

"Oh!" Hermione cried brilliantly, "That is wonderful! You must be so pleased!"

"Good for you Remus." Ron said enthusiastically.

"I am happy for you both." Harry said, genuinely happy for them, but that nagging feeling hadn't gone away, something was very wrong.

Remus gave them an artificial smile, as if it was an automatic response and one he had practiced but it actually looked pained. "So, will you three agree to let me come along and help bring an end to this war?" he asked them quickly, "I am sure Dumbledore wouldn't have wanted you fighting out here on your own, and Sirius…. Who knows what you will face, you could have a need of me."

Ron and Hermione both looked to Harry, it was his decision, but he could tell that they were not keen on the idea and they were both worried.

Harry fixed Remus with a firm look and cleared his throat all the while feeling a flow of anger rise within him the more he thought about what Remus was asking and he tried to reign it back in.

"Just so I am clear." Harry said tightly, forcing himself to remain calm and assumed he was merely misunderstanding. "You want to leave Dora with Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted? You wish to join our mission, even when we cannot tell you what it is and knowing you will face untold dangers and possibly death, all the while your unborn baby is growing inside the wife you left with her parents."

"She will be safe." Remus said dismissively, "Andromeda will look after her better than I can, and Ted is a healer, so they will be fine. Harry I am sure James would have wanted me to ensure that you survive this mission, and Sirius would never forgive me if I did not come with you!"

The temperature in the room within the room dropped suddenly as Harry stood rooted to the spot staring at Remus unable to believe the words that had come out of his mouth.

"Sorry?" Harry said in a cold slow measured.

Behind him Both Hermione and Ron flinched and took an involuntary step backwards as they heard his tone to be a clear warning that his temper was fraying.

"I cannot have heard you correctly." Harry said with a false tone of humour that stuck like a hot poker, "You think that Sirius would approve of you shirking your responsibilities and dumping your wife to her parents. You think my father would encourage you to abandon your unborn child? I must have misheard you because that is absurd! Now what is this really about Remus? Answer me truthfully."

Remus looked away and took a great interest in the cracked plaster and paint on the wall.

"You don't understand." Remus said after a long pause.

"Explain." Harry demanded, not giving him an inch of ground or a way out of this conversation.

Remus visibly gulped, and he looked to steel himself to prepare his explanation and he tried to look at Harry but failed to meet his bright green eyes that were judging him.

"I-I admit that I made a grievous error when I allowed myself to become involved with Dora, I did so against my better judgement and now I can never forgive myself for my lack of restraint. I should have never listened to Sirius in this matter, he didn't know better than I."

"So rather than face the problem you are going to abandon her and hoping to run off with us where you could be killed. A suicide mission is more attractive to you than facing your fear of being a father and husband." Harry asked with a bitting tone.

Remus sprang to his feet and jumped away from Harry like he had cursed him, and he glared at him fiercely and being this close to the full moon Harry saw the ghost of the wolf in his features and the clear warning sign of the bright amber in his eyes.

"Do not think you have the right to Judge me!" Remus spat, "You do not know what I have done to Dora! What I have done to an unborn child! They were innocent! I have made them outcasts! People to be sneered at!"

He suddenly kicked the small rickety coffee table and sent it crashing into the wall where it fell apart.

"You have only ever seen me while I was among the Order, or under the protection of Dumbledore and Sirius at Hogwarts! You do not know what it is like to be a creature such as I, one forced to live on the fringes of our society, set apart by a condition that I do not control! When most know of this affliction in my blood they can barely talk to me!" Remus shouted at the room, "Even her own family is disgusted by the marriage, what kind of family wants a werewolf in their family tree? Who wants their daughter to marry someone twice their age and cursed! And the Child! Well... The Child!"

Remus stopped and actually began to seize handfuls of his own hair and pull at it and looked deranged, he reminded Harry of the night he had taken contaminated wolfsbane, the way he was now was animalistic.

"Have you ever heard of a child of a werewolf? Well? Have you? Of course not! My kind do not procreate! I have researched it, I even reached out to Matti Salvatore of the Highmoon Institute! Even he couldn't tell me the answer to my question! It will be like me, I'm sure of it! How can I ever forgive myself if I have passed on my curse to an innocent unborn child! I have condemned my child to be a monster! I am no better than Greyback and he specialises in children! And if by some miracle of Merlin that the child is not like me then it will have to live with the shame of being the child of the Lycanthrope!"

"Oh Remus." Hermione whispered crying as she watched their former professor have a breakdown in front of them. "Don't say that, no child could be ashamed of you."

"Oh, I don't know." Harry said darkly, "I am ashamed of him right now."

The rage within Harry at reached a new height and his right hand twitched to flick out his wand from its holster, he clenched his hands into tight fists and his nails dug painfully into hand palms. Despite himself he felt the urge to curse Remus badly, but he forced himself to ignore that urge.

Remus recoiled from his words as if each of them had been a blow.

"You're pathetic." Harry snapped dangerously, "You think James Potter will encourage you to abandon your unborn child, when he died protecting my mother and I! You believe Sirius would support you decision to shirk your responsibilities to your family, when you know how much he regretted running from his responsibilities that Halloween! You dare disgrace their memories!"

"You think her family is disgusted by your marriage? Odd, I seem to remember that family attending your wedding, I remember that family pushing the two of you together and encouraging the relationship! And less you forget I am a part of that family! Don't you dare use me as part of your justification for abandoning you family! I expect this cowardice from Wormtail but not from the man who taught me how to face dementors!"

"How...How dare you!" Remus gasped horrified by his words.

"How dare I?" Harry sneered as he felt the magic deep within him well up despite the mental control his was exerting. The magic radiated out of him, and caused the Potter Ring and his eyes to glow momentarily as a clear warning, "I dare because I am an orphan! My parents died so that I might live! Yet here you stand trying to get yourself killed so that you don't have to face your child. You are a coward and a liar. You have spat in the face of a family that has welcomed you with open arms. You have dishonour the memories of your best friends! I bet Dora doesn't even know what you are trying to do! You disgust me!"

"Harry!" Hermione begged trying to stop the argument.

But Harry continued to glare at Remus daring him to speak, he felt the desire to leap the distance between them and throttle him, but Remus just glared back livid, but he did nothing.

"Nothing more to say Lupin?" Harry laughed mirthlessly, and he sneered, "You really are a filthy half-breed coward."

Remus's eyes glowered brilliantly amber and he moved far faster than Harry thought possible, he drew his wand and there was a loud bang and Harry only managed to defend himself with a wandless shield charm as he couldn't get to his wand in time, it was weak and it shattered on impact but the spell still had enough kick to push him backwards into the wall and felt like he had been punched in the stomach.

Through the commotion he glimpsed the tail end of Remus's cloak and he darted out of the living room and kicked open the doors and disapparated on the balcony all but ignoring Hermione who was trying to get him to stop.

"Harry how could you do that to him!" Hermione said turning on him, she looked distraught.

Harry shook his head at her, "I did what I had to." He said simply, his rage subsiding and he sounded defeated now, "I will not be his justification for abandoning his wife and child."

"You overstepped the line." Ron told him pointedly, "I understand this hit close to home with you but that was cruel."

"No." Harry said quietly as he moved towards the balcony door and looked up at the clouded night sky and shivered at the cold, "A parent should never leave their child, not unless they have no choice."

He suddenly remembered Voldemort's mother and how she had abandoned him in the orphanage having given up on life and wondered how Tom Riddle would have grown up if he had a mother and father.

Would he have grown up in the Riddle House? Could he have been a normal wizard or was is course set on becoming the dark wizard who had kills his family in that old house.

Turning he saw his friends were looking at each other and were having a silent conversation and he felt a spike of anger but pushed that away.

"You don't agree with what I did." Harry said, he resented them for making him have to explain himself, "I get that, but I am now the Lord of the House of Black, I am the head of the family and Remus is a part of my family. I had every right to do it…. but I could have handled it better I admit that."

"We should leave here now." Ron said firmly changing the subject, but he gave Harry a look that he couldn't place, "We have lingered too long."

Harry didn't argue with them, he walked towards the external wall and began to dismantle the web of protective magic that they had woven around the flat while the others removed all traced of their inhabitation.

As he worked he wondered what James or Sirius would have said had they been there to witness him dressing down their best friend. Would they have agreed with him? Or would they have been ashamed for the way he acted.

It was the first time he had stepped into his position as the Head of the Black family, the position he didn't want but had been forced to use. He saw the ring on his finger, it was still the Heirs ring and hadn't transformed despite him using his new position.

He felt guilty for what he had done to Remus, he had been cruel he knew and he wondered if he was leaning more towards his Black ancestors than the Potters. The urge to curse or strike at Remus had come so easily that it made him think about what Remus said about them not becoming the monsters they were fighting, and a small part of him wondered if perhaps he had already begun to walk down that path, and he thought that his friends were also thinking the same given the looks they had been giving him.

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Eight**

 **Lost in the Wilderness**

It took over an hour for the trio the remove all traces of themselves from the flat overlooking the Ministry Apparition point, as they removed the web of protective magic they noticed the increased traffic surrounding the alleyway and then the city became swarmed by dementors.

His argument with Remus had weighed heavily on Harrys mind, he hoped that Remus had gone back to Tonks once he had calmed down and that he would open-up to her about his fears. The two of them were good together if only Remus would allow them to be.

Ron and Hermione had remained mute on the topic, but he knew that they had probably talked about him while his back was turned, and he didn't blame them, after all he knew he had seemed cruel, but he hoped that his actions would help the situation rather than make it worse.

The flat had been returned to its original dilapidated condition, it took time to reverse the cleaning and repairs they had carried out, but they had done it.

With the last threat of the magic in the structure removed, Hermione had grabbed both boys by the arms and twisted on the spot and they left the cold and gloomy dementor infested city far behind.

Given the late hour the three of them decided it would be better if they found a place to stay for the night. Hermione had taken them to a seaside town where she had once stayed with her great aunt. They found a cheap Bed and Breakfast to spend the night which Hermione paid for using the money she had brought with her.

The cost was higher than they had expected it to be when Ron asked to get a separate room rather than share with Harry, he didn't explain his reasoning, but Harry felt like Ron was holding the Remus situation against him.

Harry had tried to sleep but he felt on edge and kept looking out the window expecting to see Death Eaters walking up to the front door, or dementors flying over the sea towards him. Instead he sat with the ivory box Dumbledore had left for him open in front of him and he tried to recall everything he could about the memories that it contained.

Dumbledore had thought that these memories would help them, and he wondered if the box held secrets he had yet to unravel.

What did the memories of his mother's family or that of his muggle family help except show his conception was through a love potion?

He remembered that Sirius had found the Cave because he had found notes in his office made by Dumbledore who have been researching Voldemort's Horcrux's for years, he wondered if the previous headmaster had an idea of how many of the anchors Voldemort had created or if there was other information that could help them now still in the Headmasters office at Hogwarts.

It didn't take long for Harry to exhaust his recollection of the memories, the lack of a pensieve meant that the memories were useless to him now. He wished he had taken the pensieve from Black House, but he had forgotten about it before he sealed the property.

Without further available distractions in the box, Harry tidied up his notes and decided to peruse the book that Nicolas Flamel had gifted him with and hoped it would occupy his mind.

The book contained a wealth of knowledge most of which was beyond Harry's own understanding of numerous aspects of magic. Some of the information that Harry could understand and follow its notes had completely enthralled him, there was observations that he had never considered before, while other pages detailed other cultures magical practices.

He found notes on the wandless practices of the African continent and the notes hypothesised that the invention of the wand and its influences on modern magic and stunted magical development in recent years, and how regrettable that the practice has fallen out of favour because of the difficulty in learning the skill in conjunction with learning to utilize a wand.

Some of the more interesting pages detailed various magics all of which dealt with transmutation, or the transference and siphoning of magic and substances. The notes were drawn from all corners of the world, yet all of them used the same principles to achieve a great array of outcomes.

No matter how interesting he found the book it didn't stop his tiredness from getting the better of him and he fell asleep in his chair with the book on his lap, his dreams was unusually quiet with only glimpses of Voldemort's thoughts.

They left the B&B after a meagre breakfast and they left without a backwards glance or any sign of regret. Not liking being in the same area for too long they disapparated away to avoid detection, being in the muggle world was safer but Harry and Hermione were not going to be complacent, especially when Ron drew attention to himself with his lack of accustom to muggle life.

"So where are we this time?" Ron asked looking around at the open countryside.

"Wiltshire." Harry said pointing across the fields towards the distant rock formation, "What made you pick this place Hermione?"

"It just popped into my head, you know what are the chances of Death Eaters would come to an ancient stone monument?" She said, "I came here once on a school trip."

"Are we safe out here do you think?" Ron asked looking around for any sign of a threat.

"For now." Harry nodded.

The walked away from the stone circle towards the local village and found themselves a local pub and sat in the beer garden at a bench, they were underage, but the staff didn't seem to care or notice.

"I think it is time for us to really sit and plan what we are going to do now, and to come up with places for us to look for the Horcrux's." Hermione said and she pulled out a pad of paper and a pen from her bag, and she conjured a privacy ward around them, "Harry you said that Dumbledore and Sirius believed that Voldemort only used places that held significance to him to hide his horcruxes."

"That was their theory." Harry nodded and from his pocket he pulled out the Locket they he and Sirius had found in the Cave. "This was inside the cave but this is a fake, the true Horcrux is secure in Gringotts."

"So, who left this?" Hermione asked picking up the locket, "How did someone find it?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted, he had never told Sirius the truth behind that fateful night and how it had all been for nothing. "However, whoever did its as powerful and knew what they were doing and how to bypass every enchantment."

Hermione studied the locket closely and subtly used a number of spells on it to try and identify any magic in it, but it did not yield to her.

"Well whoever planted this no doubt was trying to hide the theft of the true locket." She pondered, "Shame you never found out how Mrs Black acquired it, we might find out who else has knowledge of this dark secret."

"Let's get back to the point of the situation and away from the failings of the Black family." Ron said darkly, "So how was the cave so significant to warrant the use as a hiding place if this theory is to be proven to be correct."

"Well that cave was where he took two of his fellow orphans and it was where he tormented them, its significance is that was where he first discovered the extent of his power of cruelty and what he could inflict on those who displease him." Harry explained, remembering the memories he had reviewed and his own insight into his psyche. "that cave was the just the start in a long line of unimaginable things he has done."

"The Lestrange Vault?" Hermine asked, "Why didn't he use a vault of his own though? Why use the bank anyway?"

"I don't think he ever had a vault of his own, or if he did I doubt he ever claimed it. After all the Gaunts had no wealth of their own that he could have claimed." Harry shrugged, "However he would have seen the bank the first time he went to Diagon Alley, and he would have envied any who had a vault there, he came from nothing and went through school on a scholar ship."

"So, what was the significance?" Ron asked not understanding, "What does the bank represent to him personally?"

Harry considered what Ron said for a moment, but he found that he could understand the relevance.

"Bellatrix is one of his most loyal followers, the Lestranges are an old family with an old vault." Harry said, "he entrusted his treasure to her to stoke her infatuation to him I would imagine. But it would also mean that the bank would protect his own treasure like it does for the other wizarding families."

"And the Diary?" Ron asked looking unconvinced of the theory, "What is so special about the use of Malfoy Manor."

It was Hermione who answered it this time having followed Harrys reasoning behind the other locations and understanding the significances herself now.

"Well." Hermione said thinking hard, "I suppose he wanted to reward Lucius like he did Bellatrix, however I think he preferred that a part of him was hidden in a large house like Malfoy Manor. They hold a great significance to the old pureblood families. He is a descendant of one of the Ancient families after all, had his family not fallen to poverty they would have had a large estate like the Malfoys."

Ron snorted, "that land was ours once."

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look with each other, they knew it was touchy subject with Ron his families fall from grace had always been a sore point. Of all the Weasleys it effected Ron the most.

"So where else do you think will be important to him?" Harry asked, "I can think of only Hogwarts."

"His school?" Ron said disdainfully, "You have said this more than once, but we are talking about You-Know-Who not you!"

"I am well aware." Harry snapped, "However the two of us are orphans, I am sure you can see the parallels between us both."

"Yes, I can see them." Ron muttered to himself.

"Well we know he hid in Albania for years" Hermione said quickly to prevent an argument, "Its possible he hid something there, but we cannot search an entire forest. What about Borgin and Burkes?"

"I doubt it." Harry reminded her, "Any item of any wealth or significance would have been sold by those greedy old codgers. However, it could also be possible they would recognise the dark stain of his soul on them, it would be too risky."

"Where else would have significance then?" Ron asked, "What about the orphanage?"

"He wouldn't hide one there." Harry said simply, it would be like him using 4 Privet Drive, a place that had him captive for years. "No, that place held no significance."

"You don't know that." Ron said, "If your wrong we could overlook a possible horcrux, so we should still check despite your dismissing it."

Harry looked at his friend and frowned, his attitude was annoying him.

"Fine." Harry said to ease the awkward moment, even though he knew it was a fool's errand. "We can travel to the Orphanage and see what he left there."

"Good." Ron nodded, and he turned to Hermione, "At least we have a plan now, so once we get the Horcrux that is there we will be a step closer to finishing this war and can get back to normal."

Hermione didn't look convinced and frowned in confusion and looked between both her friends, "Well what if there isn't one there, surely we should be sure we have crossed every T and dotted every I. "

Ron shot her annoyed look and took off inside the pub to get a drink, although what he would order from a muggle pub Harry didn't know.

"What is his problem?" Harry asked Hermione.

"I don't know." She said biting her lip and staring at Ron talking to the barman, "he is just struggling to adapt to our new situation, he is worried about his family though. His shoulder is hurting still which is making him irritable. I think he thought you knew more than you do."

Harry blinked surprised, "you all know exactly what I know, I thought I made that clear."

"No, you did." Hermione said firmly, "I have tried to talk to him about it, but he is being stubborn, I think he just wants to do more to help people."

That wasn't something Harry could argue against, it was after all why they had targeted the Ministry to help the people by getting the Order the tools that they need.

"I don't disagree, we do need to help the people I just feel the best way we can do that is to take down Voldemort." Harry stressed, "the longer he lives the longer this war will last."

"You don't have to convince me of that Harry." Hermione said as she threw the locket into her bag, "I understand what is at stake, however the two of us have less to lose in this war."

It was an odd thing to hear coming from Hermione but then he supposed there was a truth in what she said that he hadn't thought of before.

"What kind of pub doesn't serve butterbeer!" Ron complained as he stormed out of the pub.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Really Ronald. Butterbeer is a wizard drink, you should have ordered a lemonade or Coke."

"Let's go." Ron said moodily, "It is going to take us a while to find the Orphanage I would imagine, do you even know where it is?"

"London." Harry shrugged, "but I really don't think…"

"So, let's go." Ron said ignoring him.

Hermione gave Harry a look to tell him to not to press the topic and he agreed although he wondered wanted to have it out with Ron to get everything out in the open so that they could sort things out.

They had made their way back to London looking for Wools Orphanage, but they could not find it and they had been forced to go to the Records Office to find its location. It was hard being in the city with the skies filled with Dementors, more than once they had been forced to change direction as a dementor floated down the street.

It took almost half a day for them to find a record of the old orphanage and when they did they immediately set out to its location.

However rather than find the building that Harry had seen in the memories they instead found a large tower block of offices. The Orphanage had been demolished decades prior as part of an urban redevelopment program by the looks of the area.

"What about if it is under the building?" Ron said eagerly walking around the building as if expecting to find a large sign that said a Horcrux is buried here. "We can't know for certain that there wasn't one here, it could have been found?"

"That's a good idea, lets destroyed this building and dig up its foundations on the off chance that there is something hidden here." Harry said waspishly having been forced to come here even though he knew it was a fools errand.

"Well it's not like you have any other ideas!" Ron said angrily, "Do you have any other dead ends to send us down?"

"I didn't want to come here in the first place." Harry reminded him curtly, "This was your idea, I said he would never have placed one of his anchors to life here, but you wouldn't listen. We need to try and find out how many of the damned things he made."

"How do we find that out?" Ron demanded heatedly, "Do you think he will tell us if we ask him nicely?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted even though he wished he had an answer.

"Well I don't think he could have made that many." Hermione interjected getting between them both as if she couldn't bodily block their sniping. "From what I have read on the subject there is only so much manipulation you can perform on the human soul, I am surprised he created as many as we know about."

"Why?" Harry asked, he hadn't read the books on the subject himself as he didn't want to learn that magic, not to mention Hermione had the books secure in her bag.

"From what I read splitting the soul and extracting a piece and storing it outside of the body is an afront of nature and that damage dehumanises the person." Hermione explained, "Harry you said he didn't look entirely human anymore, you said he looked partially reptilian, or snake like?"

"Well he doesn't have a nose." Harry shrugged dismissively, "I always thought it was because of him feeding on Nagini that he looked like that."

"Yet again showing your lack of knowledge." Ron muttered quietly but not quietly enough for Harry not to have heard.

"What was that Ron?" Harry asked darkly, "You think I should have more information? Do you think this connection Voldemort and I share allows me to know everything he does?"

"Well it has to be good for something!" Ron said bitingly.

"Lets..." Hermione began to say when there was suddenly a crack on the street and the pedestrians around them cried out it shock. "That sounded like apparation!"

The busy street became chaos as spells began to hit people and then a light wall began to appear around the street.

"Containment ward!" Ron cursed, "We need to move now!"

Even as Ron spoke Harry dived towards his friends and gripped hold of them in a vice-like grip and twisted in mid-air before he fell on his face and they were drawn into the compressive nothingness.

One thing was abundantly clear to Harry, London was not safe. They had somehow tracked them to the street. And he wondered if they had somehow placed a new detection ward over the city which enabled them to trace witches and wizards out in the open in muggle areas.

However something else that occurred to Harry as they landed heavily in the field where they had landed after fleeing France on their mounts, was that the trip to the orphanage was a waste of their time and had almost led to their discovery which was entirely Rons fault.

 **o-HP-o**

While the wizarding world fell into further chaos, the residence of the Burrow sat at the Dinning Room table discussing the latest intelligence from the Order of the Phoenix, none of the most recent news was good and more importantly none of it pertained to the three people who they most wanted to know about.

The Muggleborn Registration Committee had been hindered by the loss of the ministry records but was still operating and was targeting those known to have what they deemed to be questionable heritage.

Many of such families had disappeared into hiding having noticed the changes that had been happening with the death of the previous minister. However, others hadn't been quick enough and were being arrested and forced to register themselves.

The Order had discovered that the Ministry was now paying witches and wizards for any tips on hiding muggleborns. They had also discovered that groups of unscrupulous people were being paid to act as enforcers of the Committee. These Snatchers as they were being called would apprehend suspected muggleborns by force, detain them and transport them for processing in exchange for a bounty.

So far the Order had managed to prevent a number of families being taken into custody and had reached out to many of the younger muggleborns and their families to prevent them being found and arrested and encouraged them to hide within the muggle where possible.

What the Order truly needed now was more resources, they were spread so thin and watched so closely it was difficult for them to do anything. Even those that they saved or warned they couldn't put them up anywhere as they had no safe houses left.

"I forgot to tell you all, I saw a large family being escorted through the ministry today. Both parents and there four children were there, the parents might have been muggleborn, but their children were not." Arthur said solemnly as he sat looking into his cup of tea, he was tired, and his face looked to be more lined than ever. "The youngest could have been no older than four years old. The worse part of this was that they were not apprehended by Snatchers, they turned themselves in voluntarily."

"What happened to them?" Molly gasped looking truly alarmed, "They are alive, aren't they?"

"I believe so," Arthur said quickly to reassure her, "According to Maggie they were given a lighter sentence because they volunteered. The father was sent to Azkaban for his supposed crimes while the wife is now under house arrest and monitored by the Ministry and she forfeited her wand."

"That is disgusting." Bill said shaking his head, "The children weren't not left traumatised?"

"No, they were taken into custody by the DMLE, they were protected by some of the more decent members of the department." Arthur shuddered, "It is a good thing Umbridge is still injured otherwise I fear the entire family would be in Azkaban. The issue is that many families still have faith in the Ministry and believe that it is safe to register, the Order is failing to help those that turn themselves over out of ignorance."

"We have said this numerous times." Fred said moodily, "If we can get the word out to the people they can help themselves freeing up the Order to help those who cannot help themselves."

"We heard you." Charlie said equally gloomy, "But how can we do that? The Prophet and the other publications are all under the Death Eaters control and all of them publish their ridiculous propaganda. Event if we could interfere with the printing process to place our own messages they would soon correct it and if they recognised our magical signatures they would come for us."

"What about the Quibbler?" Ginny asked quietly from where she sat, she tried not to draw attention to herself as the family discussed the war as her mother was still trying to protect her from it and would march her up to her room if she got too involved.

"You cannot be serious." Charlie snorted, "Xeno's paper? No one would take anything it said seriously! Its filled with pure fluff."

"Not if we give Mr Lovegood the information to publish." Ginny pointed out, "We could write the articles, he just needs to publish them. Wouldn't it be better to get the truth out to some rather than none?"

"Many buy the Quibbler as it is an amusing read." Molly added to the shock of the table, none had expected her to support her only daughter, "But the Prophet is not reporting a lot of what is going on, people are desperate for information, they could turn to other sources for that should it be forthcoming."

"It is a good idea." Bill said smiling proudly at his baby sister, and he turned to his father, "Do you think he would help us? Should we even ask him? The Lovegood's are purebloods so are safe from this new regime…"

"No, they're not." Ginny interrupted, "There are among the most eccentric of our community, the Death Eaters want everyone to follow their world view, can you see them doing that?"

Bill looked shocked for a moment but quickly covered it, "true." He reflected, "however they are for now out of the spotlight. They are at least not in the folder Harry gave dad. What I meant was do we ask them to help us even though we know it will put them at risk, and old Xeno has been wobbly since his wife died, if anything happened to Luna then who knows what he would do."

The room was silent, the Weasleys had known the Lovegoods for years as they were close wizarding neighbours, the older members could remember Pandora Lovegood, Lunas mother and remembered how her death had altered her widowed husband and it had estranged the Weasleys and Lovegoods for years.

"We might ask Xeno if he will help, but only he can tell us if he is willing to do so." Arthur answered he son and heir, "I agree with you that it is not right for us to put him in this position but if he does do it then it was out of freedom rather than coercion."

"I don't like it." Bill muttered darkly, and Fleur placed a supporting hand on his arm.

"Neither do I." Arthur sighed, "But he might be the only ally that we have in this war, and we do desperately need to get the word out to people. If it only saves a few then at least we have managed just that."

"If you think it is too much of a risk to use a publication, what about using the radio?" George offered.

"Most families have a wireless, and it will be hard for the Death Eaters to stop us broadcasting the real news." Fred added joining his twins' line of thought, "Lee works at the WWN, he can show us how we can do it."

"Absolutely not." Molly said aghast, "You have gone from endangering the Lovegoods, to endangering your best friend and all those who work at the WWN."

Fred and George frowned at their mother and looked like they were about to argue with her but decided to hold their tongues. Molly sat at the end of the table half-heartedly knitting one of the Weasley Christmas jumpers, most of her attention however was focused on the clock that sat on the kitchen mantle.

Ron's hand on the clock often moved between saying he was "lost" or joining the rest of the family in being in "Mortal Peril". Whenever his hand moved Molly would stop doing whatever she was doing and stare at the clock as it gave her a sign that her youngest son still lived.

"Should we go on through to the living room dear?" Arthur suggested to his distraught looking wife, she nodded numbly and held onto her while flicking her wand at the clock which began to float and followed them out of the kitchen.

With the parents out of the room the rest all shared a look, and Bill pulled out his wand and gave it a wave and created a sound barrier around them.

"We have to do something." Ginny hissed once the ward was up, "We can't just sit her while Ron is out there fighting!"

"I will approach Xeno about the Quibbler." Bill told her, "Dad won't do it, but we don't have a choice."

"No." Ginny snapped annoyed, "I will speak to Luna. Mr Lovegood will not do anything to endanger her, but she should be able to get him to help us."

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked her.

"I want to go and see her anyway." Ginny said firmly, "We are being forced back to Hogwarts by that new law and we need a plan on how we will fight back."

"You will do no such thing." Charlie said protectively, "You are to keep you head down..."

"What would you do if you were forced to attend a Death Eater run school!" Ginny shot back furious at her brother, "Would you sit still like a good pureblood and eat up the dung they will be selling?"

Charlie took a step away from his sister seeing the fury on her face, while the twins grinned dangerously knowing that their brother was close to having a curse shot at him, they had learnt just how potent her spells could be first hand since she had attended Hogwarts.

"I know you will want to fight Gin." Bill said quietly, he was the even tempered Weasley sibling after all and took after their fathers disposition the most. "I will not try and persuade you otherwise as I would be the exact same in your position. But you need to be smart and keep ahead of the Death Eaters."

"I am not an idiot." Ginny said rolling her eyes, "Snape knows us all too well having taught us for years, we will do what the Order does and undermine them from the shadows."

"Come on then." Fred said poking her in the arm, "We will drop you off on our way back to the shop."

Ginny nodded eagerly and followed her brother to the door.

"Can you let mum know?" George asked Charlie, "You know she won't say yes if she asked permission."

Charlie did not look impressed at being the one who needed to tell their mother where her only daughter had gone and knew that it would not go well at all.

"Fine." He said grinding his teeth, "You will owe me for this, the three of you!"

The Twins and Ginny smiled broadly and all but ran through the door and out into the yard to get beyond the ward boundary before their mother could catch up with them.

Once they had dropped their sister off at the Lovegoods House and said a quick hello to Luna and surprisingly to Neville who was also there, the twins then apparated to their flat in Diagon Alley and quickly sent a note to Lee Jordan to come over as soon as he was finished at work.

If anyone could help them it would be Lee, and he was a half blood so he was protected somewhat but Lee would want to help people even if it meant endangering himself. The three of them had joined the DA, and had pledged themselves to fight this war however they can, Lee might not be in the Order himself but he knew about it and agreed with what it stood for.

 **o-HP-o**

Three days after their near miss in London the trio had barely stayed in once place for longer than a few hours or so at a time. Harry and Hermione were feeling paranoid after the Death Eaters has somehow tracked them and were not willing to stay in one place out of fear of being found again.

All of them were tired, but they were also hungry as they had run out of food again and they were trying to avoid large population centres for fear of being detected by the wards they thought had been placed across the country.

Ron's mood had soured further as they lacked food, and all but refused to eat the rabbit strew that Harry had managed to cook after hunting for the ingredients once he realised that Harry had killed the creatures for them to eat them.

Grinding his teeth in annoyance Harry poured the strew into two bowls, it was basic, only rabbit, onion, potatoes and carrots that he had managed to summon from a farmer's field as they passed it earlier in the day.

Hermione took the offered bowl eagerly and took a tentative bite of the offered food and looked up surprised.

"This is actually quite nice." She admitted, "Where did you learn to cook like this?"

"Bulgaria." Harry told her, he didn't need to elaborate they knew he had gone through hell when Sirius threw him into the Black Lodge and he had to adapt to survive.

"Did you kill animals when you were their too?" Ron asked looking at him shrewdly.

"I killed only that which I ate." Harry replied steadily.

"You didn't need to eat meat." Ron muttered turning away looking a bit green.

It was true Harry thought to himself, he didn't need to eat meat in order to fill his belly, he killed a creature just to satisfy a hunger that could be otherwise negated by eating plants or mushrooms. He hadn't thought of it before but then who thinks about where the meat that is on their plate comes from unless is staring back at them.

Ron sat and gloomily kept watch over the fields for any sign of Death Eaters or dementors coming towards them while Harry and Hermione sat trying to piece together places that could still have a horcrux hidden within while also planning where they would hide next.

"Seems to me the for all you two plan there is still a lot we don't know." Ron said sourly, "What we do know however is that two of those infernal things are sitting safe within Gringotts right now. So why don't we just deal with those now? Beats roaming the country aimlessly and without a plan."

Harry and Hermione looked at him for a moment and then looked at each other and shrugged.

"Could we get to them?" Hermione asked him, "Ron isn't wrong, if we can get them and destroy them that is two less to worry about."

Harry had considered trying to get into the Vaults to get those Horcrux more than once but getting into London was too risky given how they were tracked last time and Diagon Alley would be even more dangerous and it was why he hadn't voiced the idea himself.

However, they were sealed away in the box that Sirius had created and placed in one of the Black Vaults, to get to the Horcrux they would need to speak with the Goblins and he would need to check the records of vault movements as he didn't know exactly which vault Sirius had place them.

"I think Sirius placed them within one of the Black Trust Vaults." He told them, "However I do not know which one. I also do not have they keys to them so opening them will not be simple, however it is better that they are in a Trust Vault rather than the Ancestral vault. The security is nowhere close to being as strong and those vaults are not that deep."

"You surely can expect help from your Account Manager can't you?" Ron said looking bewildered now, "they are your vaults, you just need to demand access like all the other purebloods."

Harry heard the not so subtle attack Ron threw at him and ignored it.

"I doubt the Goblins are following the new regime, doesn't Bill always say that they believe this to be a wizards war and they do not care which side wins so long as they get their gold?" Hermione said thinking it through, "All we need to do is get through the banks doors and then we should be relatively safe in Goblin territory."

It wasn't that simple Harry thought to himself, while the bank itself was goblin territory the outside was no doubt closely watched by the Death Eaters or the Ministry puppets. However, if they could get passed the wizarding security on the bank then by Goblin Law Harry should be given access to the Vaults.

"If we are to do this then it will only be me who is going down to the vaults." Harry said.

"What?" Hermione said shocked, "No!"

"You want to do this alone? What the hell did you want us to come here with you for then!" Ron growled with annoyance. "Were not here for the fun of it Harry."

"I'm the client." Harry reminded them tightly, "those vaults are mine, as the client I can access them even when disguised. The Goblins will no doubt carry out a blood test to confirm my identity. If the two of you are with me that will complicate the process of me getting down to the vaults and the Goblins will not look as favourably on the two of you. My accounts are old and rich, the two of you do not even have your own personal vaults."

Ron's ears had gone bright red when Harry mentioned his own wealth and then when he mentioned Ron's lack of account he looked ready to hit Harry.

"So I am insignificant in your eyes now because I don't have gold?" He challenged.

"No." Harry said slowly, "I am just pointing out that the Goblins deal with business, they will want to keep mine and will not risk it. With you they are more likely to bar your entry and expose you."

"I don't think he is wrong Ron." Hermione said delicately, "After all if the Goblins expel the two of us and reveal our identities. Your ghoul ruse will be ruined, and your family will have to go on the run. Is there relative safety worth risking because you want to go into the bank?"

"Of course not!" Ron snapped.

"Good." Hermione said, "Then the two of us can remain outside and watch for trouble, we can send you a message should anything change, and you will need to get out."

"Should we not scout out the alley?" Harry asked them, it seemed rash to just go now.

"No." Ron said firmly, "We have the element of surprise, if they are monitoring London and then this needs to happy quickly before reinforcements can arrive."

Harry looked at his friends and could see that this was the path they wanted to take, and he didn't have the energy to try and convince them.

"Fine." He said finally, "But if we are to do this then we will all need to be well rested, this could go awry, and we will need our wits about us."

"Where should we sleep?" Hermione asked, and she picked up her bag, "I have a tent in the bag."

"No Camping." Ron said darkly, "Lets find a cheap B&B again, we can get some real food and sleep on a real bed. You two can place wards over it to protect us."

It was not an idea that appealed to Harry but thought it might improve Ron's mood so nodded and looked at Hermione and frowned, "Do you have the money for this?"

Hermione didn't look as though she wanted to do it either, but she nodded dutifully, "I should do, but if we are not careful we will burn through it all, I cannot afford to keep doing this."

"Nor should you have to." Harry muttered annoyed that they only did this to ease the burden that Ron was becoming.

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	9. Chapter 9

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Nine**

 **The Bank Job**

To say that Harry was apprehensive about the upcoming jaunt into London would be to thoroughly understate his current feelings towards the mission. They did not know how the wards they suspected that surrounded the city worked or what their full capabilities were, and they could be detected the moment they entered the city.

Not to mention the additional risk that Diagon Alley and entering Gringotts threw into the mix just so they could get the box which contained the Horcruxes that Sirius had stored there.

Harry was not against taking the mission as it came and basically making it up as they went long, he just did not like the amount of unknown quantities they would be facing. The only sure thing they knew was that the box was in the bank, although not in which Black Trust Vault.

The entire affair was being forced merely to soothe Ron's foul mood.

Admittedly their mission into the Ministry had not gone according to their plans, however their planning had ensured that each of them could cover the others assigned task and had led to their first success. The only bad outcome had been Ron's injury which Harry was beginning to think was his just award for being such a moody insufferable prat.

Hermione had taken them to a town she had once visited on a school trip and had found themselves accommodation for the night, mindful that their money was dwindling so they found the cheapest place to rest. Soon enough they would have to camp which Ron was very much against.

While Harry and Hermione had been subtly placing several enchantments to protect them, Ron had helped himself to a meal in the dinning room keeping himself and his temper far from them which prevented an argument.

In normal circumstances warding a muggle house would be detected by the ministry as the trace would detect the magic in a non-magical residence and an official would be sent out to investigate however the ministry could no longer detect such infractions so they were safe from detection.

Neither Harry or Hermione would have been surprised to learn that many witches and wizards were adding enchantments over their neighbours houses to protect them from the Death Eaters where they could, it had happened during the previous war.

Harry had managed to get some sleep after he had purged the bed and sheets with magic as he felt as if they had been crawling under his skin. What sleep he'd managed hadn't be easy to come by, but his thoughts had mostly been his own and had only briefly connected with Voldemort's, during which he thought he caught a glimpse of Ollivander and another being tortured.

Eventually however he had woken up abruptly in a cold sweat, Harry tried and failed to get back to sleep as he was so on edge and couldn't get his mind or body to relax again so instead he got up and ran a bath.

The water in their lacklustre accommodation was barely warm so he had to use magic to warm it and had accidently boiled the water and then had to wait for it to cool down. When he eventually got in he felt a little relief to his aching body and further helped himself relax with the addition of several runes.

Drawing the runes on the surface of the water like he had done in Durmstrang, their power and magic had infused the water and he was finally able to relax and he let his mind wander for a while before it focused on the day ahead and tried to think of a way to achieve their goal but as he tried a more important issue presented itself to him to unravel.

Even if they were successful in obtaining the box that contained the Horcruxes, how would they destroy them? The only way Harry knew to destroy one was the same way he had destroyed Tom Riddles Diary which was with basilisk venom which was hardly readily available.

Part of him wondered if they could use the venom of his animagus form, it was infused with basilisk venom which came from a shard of fang left in his arm. But he doubted what small amounts of the venom he had within his body would be potent enough to destroy the pieces of Voldemort's soul.

Eventually it was time for him to leave the bath and he begrudgingly got out and dried himself off, kicking open his trunk he looked through his wizard-wear looking for something he could wear to enter the bank but found that none of it was suitable.

All his own wizard-wear was of the highest quality and was more likely to draw attention as they screamed wealth, and he would likely to be stopped before he managed to get into the bank.

A part of him was annoyed at the oversight and cursed Sirius for insisting that he only purchase the highest quality robes. However, Harry wasn't defeated, with the right application of charms he was able to alter the robes and make them shabbier and more worn which he was much happier to wear.

Once dressed he packed everything back inside his trunk which he shrunk and pocketed and made his way downstairs where he could smell breakfast and was not at all surprised to find Ron gorging himself on sausages, eggs and bacon.

He glanced up at Harry as he approached and eyed what he was wearing.

"Do you think that's appropriate?" He asked looking at the frayed and faded robes, "hardly the attire of the Lord of House Black."

"I am not the Lord of House Black." Harry grumbled and helped himself to some toast and he took a seat at Ron's table and noticed the muggle owners in the kitchen and quickly cast a glamour around himself to hide his wizard-wear. "And that is also the point."

One of the owners came in and sniffed disdainfully at Ron, and Harry wondered what had caused that reaction, no doubt he'd put hit foot in his mouth over something muggle related.

"Have you decided how you're going to get into the bank?" Ron asked, "And what do you want us to do?"

"I will apparate directly to the banks bottom step, given the way things are now I think that is what most people would do." Harry said as he buttered his toast and explained what he had decided while in the bath, "This way it should limit the chances of being challenged by a patrol but will also mean I am out in the open for less time."

Ron nodded agreeing, "You're probably right there, but do not think that the Bank won't be guarded, I am sure the goblins will be on high alert."

"I thought about that and think the Goblins are the least likely to be a problem, I am a client and they are obligated to provide their services." Harry told him between bites, "I however have no idea how to get you and Hermione into the Alley without being noticed or challenged, and while I am inside I really need you outside ensuring that we can escape but also to warn me in case anything changes."

"What about hiding in plain sight?" Ron asked piling ketchup on his plate, "we can watch from the shops and stalls while you're in your vault."

"Thought of that, but no it won't work." Harry told him, "I doubt the Alley will have people leisurely window shopping. Even if were possible to do it, on your own you more likely to attract attention."

Hermione suddenly appeared in the doorway and she looked determined as she joined them.

"So, are we ready?" She asked them.

"No." Ron replied, pointing at Harry, "Harry hasn't decided how we can hide ourselves."

"Oh." Hermione said looking between them, "that's easy enough."

"You have an idea?" Harry said with interest he had hoped she had an idea about this particular snag in his plan.

"Yes." She said smiling, "Street level is out of the question, however what about the rooftops? We could watch from them hidden under a disillusionment charm, we will be out of sight and out of the way."

Harry looked at her impressed it was a good idea, but he thought there was one hole.

"How will you get in place? If you apparate onto the roof they will hear the two of you, and what about if the roof gives way or tiles come loose?" Harry asked, pointing out some issues but he wasn't against the idea.

"Masking our arrival is the easy bit." She said smugly, "We time our apparition together, so we arrive at the exact same moment, the noise of our arrival will be masked by yours. It does mean you will need to do make more noise than normal, I know your apparition is almost silent now. We will also need to apply a silencing field around ourselves along with a featherlight charm."

Harry thought it through and smiled wildly as he realised that she had addressed every concern that he could come up with and it was simply brilliant, and a typical Hermione move.

"What roofs will we use." Ron said finishing his food happily, "We need to be close enough to the bank and to the Leaky Cauldron to get a good vantage of the entire Alley."

"You can take the roof of the twin's shop." Hermione said easily, obviously she'd already planned to give Ron a post he wouldn't most likely want to encourage him the get on board with the plan. "Now each property will likely have wards to prevent apparition within the properties, but the roofs should be accessible as they fall within the public space of the Alley."

"It's a good plan, only issue is I cannot perform the disillusionment charm." Ron pointed out, "mine are still wobbly unlike either of yours."

"Not a problem." Harry shrugged, "I can perform it on you or Hermione can before we leave."

"So, we are settled then?" Hermione said looking between them after Harry told her his part of the plan which was what she had thought up herself, "We can keep watch outside for any changes while you go into the bank and get what we need."

"You make it sound easy." Harry said frowning, he had a bad feeling that it would be anything but easy."

"Because it will be." Ron said rolling his eyes, "It isn't like You-Know-Who will turn up to stop you is it!"

"Well in any case we need to be ready for it all to go wrong." Harry responded firmly, they were leaving a lot of this mission to chance and it didn't sit well with him. "Hermione at the wedding you planted portkeys on us because you thought we needed an exit plan; can we do the same now?"

"Yes, but remember that the portkey will not work within Gringotts" Hermione pointed out, "I read that the banks is thoroughly warded against all magical transportation, if we even attempted it I cannot imagine what they would do to you. Goblins are vicious by nature, and their warding is supposed to be the best there is."

Ron shuddered visibly, "Hermione is right, you do not mess with Goblin warding. And Gringotts is Goblin Territory, it will be warded extensively as they are distrustful of wizards. Bill has told me stories about old goblin wards and what they can do to a wizard intent on passing through them."

It was a risk to enter the bank with a portkey, Harry thought to himself as it might activate a ward however so long as it wasn't activated he should be fine. Or at least that was what he hoped.

"That's fine." Harry said finally, "We will need them just in case it goes wrong, if you detect even the slightest indication that I have been discovered you need to get me a message immediately on the communicators and I will get out of the bank, once outside you can activate our portkeys."

The other two nodded easily, after all it was his decision as he was the one most in danger in this plan, they could leave at a moment's notice seeing as they were not contained within one of the most secure buildings in the country.

Hermione pulled out her wand and hid it under the table as the muggle owner came over to make sure they had everything they wanted, but once they were gone she pulled out a belt from her bag and applied the more complicated portkey charm that would activate on command rather than on contact.

"Give me your belts too, I will need to place the same spell on them but link them with a protean charm." She instructed, and they complied quickly, and Harry was glad that the muggles couldn't see them undressing in the dining room otherwise they might think something untoward was going on.

Harry watched with apt attention as she made each belt individual portkeys and then linked them together so that any one of them could activate the portkeys with a single command and the three of them would be whisked away in a flash of blue.

A part of him was suspicious so he watched for any magic being applied that was not required, he hadn't forgot the tracking charm she had once placed on him while under the influence of Makos. Although he had safeguarded her against such an intrusion it was not entirely unwarranted to be wary.

"What is the activation word?" Harry asked, "I am assuming with just touch the belt and then say the word to make it work?"

"Yes." Hermione said as she finished applying the spells and the three of them were glowing with a low blue light and she pointed her wand at them, "Caput Draconis!" The belts glowed brighter for a moment before returning to normal and looked perfectly ordinary.

"What made you think of that?" Ron asked looked at her oddly, "How are we supposed to remember that."

"It was the first password we ever had to enter the Gryffindor Common Room," Harry recalled.

Hermione looked at him surprised that he remembered but then replied to Ron, "It just popped into my head, it needed to be something that won't be triggered accidently."

Ron just shook his head at them both but took his belt, "You know sometimes I wonder how both of your minds work sometimes. How in the name of Merlin can you remember a password from seven years ago!"

Hermione snorted in response, too used to Ron underestimating her memory and she helped herself to some cereal and they finished the last parts of their impromptu plan.

 **o-HP-o**

Diagon Alley was quiet, many of the shops were boarded up, while others looked like they had been ransacked. Many of the shop fronts were covered with posters which listed people who were wanted by the Ministry and it looked incredibly macabre.

Even the shop owned by Weasley Twins looked less loud and extravagant then normal, gone were the posters advertising You-Know-Poo, their windows were covered with the new ministry posters but inside the shop was much the same just mostly devoid of shoppers.

The only part of the London's wizarding shopping district that had not seen a downward turn but had in fact greatly prospered in recent months was Knockturn Alley. Previously the criminal elements of the community had to operate in the shadows and be careful to avoid the attention of the DMLE and other officials but now they were free to do what they pleased so long as they continued to support the new regime. It also helped that the Death Eaters all used the various serviced this alley had to offer.

While those of a criminal nature and a shadier disposition walked freely and without concern, those in the main alley moved from shop to shop as quickly as they could and tried not to attract any attention to themselves.

An unusually loud crack pierced the air as a man apparated to the foot of the steps of the Gringotts bank, the noise echoed across the entire alley and drew the attention of all present. The man looked around the Alley carefully, his eyes swept over every inch of the cobbled street, but he remained impassive and he turned back around and looked up at the white marble bank.

Harry had to fight to control his face as he took in the current state of the Alley and the two black robed people who were patrolling, and his hand twitched unconsciously at the sight of them. But he was not here for them today, he had another agender.

Oddly at the base of the steps where the white marble met the old cobbles a thick red line had been painted and it surrounded the bank, Harry wondered at it for a moment but decided to ignore it and walked up towards the steps where the large bronze doors sat flanked by two goblins either side.

In place of the normal goblins wearing their gold and scarlet uniforms, there was instead goblins wearing metal armour of the same colour holding dangerous looking halberds. The emblem of the bank was etched onto the weapons and armour and it all gleamed like all goblin craftwork.

The guards closely watched him as he approached but they didn't challenge him or make a move to stop his advance towards the bank's doors. As Harry got closer he eyes the goblins weapons and he felt a thrum of power emanate from them and Harry became all the warier of the guards.

Stepping through the inner silver doors and into the Main Hall Harry saw that even within the bank there was a large guard presence, spaced out evenly throughout the hall watching everyone who was within the Bank.

As always when he walked down the marble hall he felt uneasy as he was watched by the clever and shrewd looking goblins. However, it was not only eyes that were watching him, there was an unseen magic permeating the building and it was unlike any that he had felt before.

No doubt it was some type of goblin wrought magic that he was feeling but it made him more alert as he felt a cold, dark malice surround him that matched the creatures who he thought had placed the enchantments he could feel. Unless he was imagining it and it was merely a reflection of his own insecurities regarding this mission.

Fortunately, the bank was mostly empty, only four other customers stood at the kiosks speaking uncomfortably with various goblins. Harry stepped up to one of the goblins closest to the doors as a means of easy escape should something go wrong.

"What do you want wizard." The goblin snapped, and he gazed shrewdly at Harry and gave him a thorough going over and his faced formed a filthy sneer at something he saw. Harry knew that Goblins were known to see through concealment magics and hoped that it was only seeing the concealment charms over his clothing and not the glamour that he wore to conceal his appearance.

"I would like to access a Vault." Harry said promptly and firmly without even a slight waver in his voice.

"Do you indeed." He said smiling nastily at some unknown joke, "And which vault would that be?"

"One of my trust vaults, I have yet to decide which, so I will likely access more than one." Harry replied curtly.

"And do you have your key?" He asked looking gleeful now.

"I don't require a key." Harry said simply, "My vaults open merely by my touch."

The Goblin lost his smirk now and turned his clever little eyes onto Harrys face and they regarding him most carefully and Harry knew for certain now that he could detect the glamour on his face.

"You will need identification." He said in a low voice and looked around the bank.

Hair on the back of Harry's neck stood on end at his look around the room, and Harry was very aware of the wicked looking weapons the guards held that he would bet his fortune were enchanted to be very lethal to wizards.

Reluctantly Harry placed his hand on the goblins counter top and silently willed the magic the surrounded his hand to part and a ring suddenly appeared on his finger where none had been before.

The Black heir ring twinkled in the gleam of the bright torchlight before Harry concealed it once more afraid it would draw the attention of everyone in the room.

The teller's eyes went wide for a moment and took an exaggerated breath of shock before it returned to its usual stoic composure.

"Very well." The Goblin said nodding, "However there are standing orders regarding your account, you will need to follow me."

Harry didn't move as the goblin stepped off its stool and began to walk away, he looked to the exit of the bank and it was clear, wondering if this was a trap of some kind. However, the goblin was walking towards the corridor that held the Account managers offices and Harry wondered why he would need to speak to Narfang.

Walking quickly to catch up with the goblin teller who had not looked back as he passed into the corridor they passed numerous offices and eventually came to stop in front of a familiar door.

"The Account Manager." The Goblin told him, and he knocked crisply on the door and a shout of gobbledegook came back, "Go on in, and good day."

Harry opened the door and stepped into the familiar office of the Narfang, the Black Account Manager.

"You should not be here." Was the immediate response of Narfang from his desk as he looked at Harry, "While I cannot stop you accessing the accounts that the bank safeguards for your family, I can tell you that it was most foolish of you to come here."

"I understand; however, I have no choice." Harry said firmly.

Narfang watched him carefully for a long moment before he spoke, "Your presence within the bank endangers not only yourself but the entire goblin nation. While we goblins wish to play no part in your Wizards War there are some who have sympathies for the Dark Lord and wish to garner favour."

It was a surprise to hear the goblin warning him that his presence wasn't assured as a secret, but Harry could hear that Narfang did not agree with the idea of breaching the confidentiality of a client.

"Then I shall have to be succinct." Harry said quickly, "I need to access the Black Vaults, there is something that I need from them."

"I see." The goblin frowning, "While I recognise the concealment that you are using, I will still need to you to prove your identity before we continue."

Nodding Harry removed the glamour on his hand and allowed the account manager to study the rings on his fingers for their authenticity and then performed a blood test.

"Well Lord Black-Potter." Narfang said after confirming he was who he believed, "before we continue there is some business we must attend to before you can access those vaults."

"I don't mean to be rude." Harry interjected before the goblin could move on, "I understand that there are certain things that must be settled, however as you will understand my time here is very limited. The longer I linger the more danger I am in and by extension the more of a risk I pose to you and your brethren."

His words caused the old goblin to pause but he didn't look surprised, in fact he seemed to have expected it, "Of course, I am aware your time is not a luxury however neither is my own. The Potter Account Manager has already left the banks employment and sealed the Potter Records away. I should have done the same, but I couldn't as there were urgent matters that I must discuss with you regarding the estate of the late Lord Black, I knew you would eventually need to come to the bank as I am aware you did not withdraw any gold during you last visit."

Harry sighed deeply, "Narfang, Lord Black is dead. I was his heir and therefore the accounts are mine. I may not have claimed the lordship, but I still control those accounts, Sirius even gave me power over them prior to his death." He paused thinking of a way to appease the goblin without offending him, "I will sign a contract to maintain your employ in your current position and match the previous provisions of your contract with Lord Black but beyond that I really do not have the time."

A look of utter disapproval came over Narfang however he did not argue further, from his desk he pulled out a new employment contract which stated that Harrison Black-Potter was now his client, and as a magical contract the clauses of confidentiality were binding.

"That will have to do." Narfang said once the contract was signed and duplicated, "However there is still much that must be resolved."

"Very well." Harry said sternly, "As soon as this war is done and assuming I am still alive I will return to the bank to put these matters to rest but for now please can we get on with the reason for my visit."

Immediately Harry regretted the sharpness of his tone and saw the old goblins face sour considerably at it.

"Which account is it that you wish to access?" Narfang asked flatly.

"I don't know." Harry admitted, "I know what I seek is in one of the trust vaults, but I don't know which of them Sirius used."

The Goblin frowned at the lack of information, but he had an answer, "Many of those vaults have been untouched for decades, however last year Lord Black transferred all of their contents back to the Black Vault. Only a handful contain anything now."

"Do you have a record of the deposits and withdrawals of the trust vaults, I need to know which of them Lord Black accessed personally over the last year. Any activity is most surely logged by the bank?" Harry asked, he was counting on the Bank for its record keeping.

Narfang nodded and clicked his fingers and ledger flew towards his desk and laded heavily.

"Normally I would not use magic in front of a wizard." The Goblin explained as he flicked through the pages, "As I said most of those vaults were emptied, however Lord Black allocated two trust vaults to both Mrs Andromeda Tonks and Mrs Nymphadora Lupin last year, the trust of Mr Draco Malfoy is also still frozen as per the conditions set out by Lord Black."

That was all as Harry expected but it caused him to frown, "I understand that Mrs Lupin is pregnant, the child will be a member of the Black family, that child should be entitled to one of the trusts."

Narfang pulled out a quill and made a note of that, "It shouldn't be a problem, the trust should automatically be allocated to a child officially recognised by the family however I will ensure that it happens should it not."

"Good." Harry said happy he could do something for the unborn child and then he remembered his fight with Remus and his mood soured. "Excluding those vaults were any others accessed after their contents were transferred. If I am right, it should be the only one that is still active but not assigned to a particular beneficiary."

Flicking through the ledger carefully Narfang looked at the records of each of the vaults and was able to whittle it down quickly, "Only two vaults meet your criteria. vault four hundred and seventy-two was accessed twice by Gringotts curse breakers as per Lord Blacks instructions once it was reclaimed from Bellatrix Lestrange. The only other record of access is of vault four hundred and ninety. He often used it as it was the closest to the surface to withdraw gold quickly however he accessed it once more following its contents being transferred."

Harrys eyes lit up, it had to be that vault that Sirius had deposited the box, "Is there a record of what it contains?" Harry wasn't sure how the record system worked as he had never deposited things with the bank himself.

"No." Narfang stated as he closed the book, "Lord Black merely listed it as a non-monetary deposit. I assume that it will be Vault four hundred and ninety that you wish to access."

"Immediately." Harry requested and looked down at his watch and saw that it had been fifteen minutes since he had entered the bank and wished to speed things along.

"Follow me." The goblin said stepping down the floor and he led Harry from his office towards the private platform quite swiftly for a goblin of his apparent age and it was unlike him not to summon a junior goblin.

He must have picked up on Harrys thoughts as he answered his unasked question.

"It is best that I guide you." Narfang explained quietly, "Your presence in the bank will be inferred because of our interaction. My employment contract with your family prevents me from acting against your interests and safeguards you while in my care, others are not bound by the same contract and might find a way to bypass the Goblin Code or Gringotts Vow."

As they walked, they passed even more warriors all of whom watched Narfang and Harry carefully, but they were not challenged and the hurried down the marble hall and arrived on the open platform where an entire battalion stood guard of the tracks that led to the vaults.

Narfang moved to the edge and held out his hand to summon a cart but he was watching for any sign on treachery or signs of trouble, Harrys heart hammered as he waited with Narfang, the goblins unease only increasing Harry's own.

They waited for several minutes, but the cart still did not arrive and Narfang put his hand out for one again.

"What is wrong." Harry muttered, "Should it take this long."

"No." The Goblin growled darkly, "However our security is tightened, and we haven't as many carts on the track as normal. Stay calm and do not draw your wand within the bank."

Harry did not miss the obvious warning he had been given, especially when surrounded by goblin warriors. He remembered lectures on the Goblin Wars and rebellions, and how many witches and wizards had been killed by Goblin warriors.

A blur of movement caught Harrys eye as he saw several bank staff hurried passed the open-doorway, the movement that was not lost on Narfang who turned and stormed over to the closest guard and began a harsh conversation in gobbledegook leaving Harry standing alone and unarmed.

Suddenly Harrys wrist burnt hot and he pulled back his sleeve and saw a message appear on his skin.

 ** _HG: A group of people have suddenly arrived and are heading towards the bank._**

 ** _RW: Do you have the box?_**

Harry cursed under his breath, he had spent too long with Narfang.

 ** _HBP: No, I am waiting for a cart._**

 ** _RW: Hurry it up_** _._

Harry couldn't help but think that he would like to see Ron try and hurry a goblin without having his head taken off or deeply insulting one, but he admitted that he too was wishing the cart would come.

A cart slowly approached the platform and stooped and Narfang stopped his argument and walked towards his with a deep scowl and was about to step onto the cart when a goblin hurried towards him and had a hurried hushed conversation which made his face turn murderous.

"What is wrong." Harry asked him, his instincts were screaming at him to get out now.

"Lord Ragnok is dead." Narfang said and he suddenly stepped off the cart, "Come, you cannot access the vaults now, you must leave."

"But I need to access the vault." Harry insisted going against his instincts, he didn't know if they would get another chance to get the box.

"With Ragnok dead you are not safe within these walls." Narfang said sharply and he led him away from the platform quickly and he was looking around wildly, "You must leave these premises immediately, for your own sake."

"But…"

"Move now." Narfang urged.

Harry realised that Narfang wasn't going to help him now, whatever protection he had under Goblin Law was gone now with the death of Ragnok although he didn't really understand why but he trusted his account manager to understand them more than he did.

His wrist suddenly burnt again, and he saw with dread a message appeared on his skin.

 ** _HG: LEAVE NOW._**

 ** _RW: DEATH EATERS ARE HERE._**

"Narfang, is there a side exit or another way out of the bank?" Harry asked urgently, "Death Eaters are outside."

Narfang cursed in his native tongue but shook his head, "No, the only way in and out of the bank now is the main entrance. All forms of magical transportation are blocked by the wards, they should not have passed our boundary line. We painted it as a warning a month ago and they have not yet tested it, however we also cannot harbour you within the bank."

Harry hadn't even thought to ask if that were possible, even if it was, he wouldn't have asked it of the goblin nation.

The Main Hall was empty of all bank workers, only a line of warriors lined the hall leading to the doors which were blocked by the exterior guards who were looking out into the alley.

One of the interior guards shouted something in its native tongue at Narfang who immediately bristled and argued back showing off his sharp pointed teeth.

While Harry couldn't understand the goblin-tongue he knew they were arguing about him being within the bank and no doubt wanted to expel him or hand him over themselves.

Harry stepped passed Narfang and the arguing warrior and made his way to the doors and tried to get passed but was blocked by guards.

"What is the meaning of this!" Narfang roared seeing them block Harry's path, "Let him pass, he is a client of this bank and has not broken any of our laws or broken any treaty."

Harry felt his arm burn once more but was unable to check it as the guards parted and he quickly stepped passed them into the outer entrance way and as he saw that a group of Death Eaters stood on the red line with their wands drawn and glaring at the goblin guards.

"The Goblins cannot protect you Potter." Rodolophus called seeing him, "your disguise doesn't fool us."

Straightening his back and striding purposefully forward Harry passed the last goblin guards who stood guard at the outer door and he stood at the top step and behind him he heard the boom of the bank doors closing behind him.

He glared down at the Death Eaters who looked triumphant now that the goblins were gone, and he stood unarmed and alone in front of them and removed his glamour as he walked without his wand.

"Now what a welcome party! Should I feel flattered that so many of you wish to fail in your task so that you can feel the wrath of your master, or insulted that you think that you can stop me leaving?"

His words had all been delivered in a calm and casual voice, but his mind was on fire as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. The bank wards would stop the portkeys from working which meant that he would need to push them back, so he could pass what he now thought was the boundary line.

He scanned the assembled Death Eaters and recognised only one, their leader was Rodolophus Lestrange and he was an accomplished dueller and powerful dark wizard in his own right, but the others were a mystery.

"You cannot take us all on." Rodolophus said simply, "Oh I know you will fight us, and you might defeat some, however it only takes one of us to take you out. We were personally picked by the Dark Lord for this mission."

"Perhaps." Harry admitted while taking a step towards them and was happy to see them eye him warily and their stances were defensive, "I think your master sent you here like pawns on a chessboard, he would rather hide behind you that take me on himself."

"Enough of this." Yelled a witch and her wand sparked dangerously and suddenly a spell shot towards Harry only for it to be blocked by a shield charm in a flash of light .

The steps of Gringotts Bank were suddenly turned into a stage of flashing lights and bangs as spells flew between Harry and the Death Eaters. The air was crackling with ambient left-over magic as the spells were blocked with shield charms or hit the banks stonework.

Realising that he had too many opponents casting all manner of magic at him to effectively combat singlehandedly Harry realised he would need to do something and take them all out of the duel and it would need to be done all at once.

The boundary line was only a foot away now, and Harry wondered briefly why Hermione and Ron were not helping him and had left him to duel alone. Those thoughts didn't last long however as two bright red curses streaked towards him and he hastily recognised them to be the Cruciatus Curse.

With two firm flicks of his wand he conjured a solid wooden table and a matching chair which shattered into a thousand splinters, he twirled his wand again and the splinters reformed into a hundred sharp knives which he banished towards the Death Eaters.

None of the knives met flesh however as the Death Eaters had blocked them easily, it had been too much to hope that at least one of them would have been caught by a knife.

Remembering every tactic or trick he had ever read of, thought of or seen he tried to think of a way of taking them down at once however his mind was too slow as most of its attention was taken up with the intense duel between him and the Death Eaters.

Harry managed to score a small number of hits with his spells, one of the Death Eaters lost a finger to one of his cutting curses and another suffered a severe burn, but he hadn't been able to incapacitate one of them yet.

Suddenly an idea presented itself to Harry, a proven tactic that could be used against any number of opponents and all it required was a bit of ground work to begin with before he sprung the trap that he would form, and it would also require just a pinch of luck.

Two more near deadly curses were flung at him and he reflected back from whence they came and added seven more to follow before he took a deep breath and pulled on his magic in his body for he would need additional power to pull this off.

" _Aqua Fluctus_!" He growled, and he drew on the additional power and poured as he couldn't into the spell with a sweeping motion he conjured a very large wave of water which flowed out of his wand and cascaded towards the Death Eaters.

The wave grew in size as it fully formed, and Harry gave a final push of magic it moved towards the Death Eaters who tried to dispel the water for a moment but failed, instead they blocked the water from hitting them with their own shield charms and the water was dispelled onto the floor and soaked the Alley floor.

Harry made a show of looking angry that his spell had failed and the Death Eaters looking victorious as they retaliated once more and began to react slower and dialled down the power of his own spells and gave them the impression that they were beating him.

In that same moment they decided to advance on him and pushed him further up the steps unaware that in doing so they stepped into the larger puddle of water while Harry was on dry marble.

Just as they were about to cast another volley of spells at him Harry smirked madly and shouted " _Fulgur Percu_!" With a great deal of focus Harry made sure that he followed the correct wand movement and with a loud clap of thunder a brilliant blue arc of lightning streamed out of his wand.

Realising that they had made an error of judgement and feeling the power of the spell the Death Eaters attempted to block the lightning they thought of coming straight towards them however the energy hit the wet cobble stones with a bang.

While their shield charms were strong enough to block Harry's spell if it had been sent at them directly, the charm did not protect their soles which sat in half an inch of water. The energy of his spell was conducted through all the water that surrounded the Death Eaters and shocked them painfully and secondary arcs of electricity shot up from the ground under them and they cried out in pain and surprise.

Harry slowly increased the power flowing through his wand and caused them to scream in agony before his spell caused them to collapse onto the floor twitching and he ended his spell only to realise that it had failed to ensnare Rodolophus who was merely standing watching the spectacle with a dark smirk.

He pointed his wand to the ground and muttered something inaudible to Harry, but the puddle of water began to steam and evaporate as his spell dried it out and stopped him from using the same trick again.

Realising that this duel still wasn't over Harry waved his wand towards the unconscious Death Eaters and bound and disarmed them and they were thrown unceremoniously to the side and out of the way.

"You know for a Half-Blood you fight well." Rodolophus said appreciatively, "No doubt a testament your diluted ancestry."

"For a Half-Blood?" Harry snorted, "My Blood is pure, both my parents were magical, unlike your masters has he ever told you about his parents? Near squib inbred mother and a snobbish muggle for a father."

"Lies!" Rodolophus snapped, "We were warned you lie about the Dark Lord. He is the Heir of Slytherin."

"He is _an_ heir of Slytherin that is true." Harry said dismissively stepping back down the steps aiming to pass over the red line so they he could get away but Rodolophus shot a curse at his feet.

"I don't think so." Rodolophus said smirked, "You might have taken all of them out, but I knew that tactic I learnt it from young Draco Malfoy this summer. But I realised the moment you stepped out of the bank that you had no intention of fighting us, all you want to do is escape this Alley quickly and to do it you have to cross the boundary line. I will make it easy for you."

Rodolophus took a few steps backwards and left the cobbled path in front of the boundary line free.

Wondering if it was a trap Harry didn't move for a long moment as he watched the man for any sign of anything untoward but saw none, so he walked a few paced to the left and the stepped over the boundary line.

"Caput Draconis." Harry muttered under his breath and touched his belt it glowed briefly blue and then the spell faded and with horror Rodolophus grinned nastily.

"We knew how you escaped the Weasley wedding, your little portkey saved you once, but we learnt and weren't going to be caught unaware again." He boasted proudly, and he waved around the Alley. "Anti-Transportation ward, we placed it weeks ago and all we had to do was activate it once you turned up here."

"A well laid trap." Harry applauded, "However you cannot hold me here indefinitely. I took out your friends here and now it will be one on one, I like those odds."

Harry felt his arm burn again and he lifted his arm and looked at it briefly.

 ** _HG: Keep him busy, we need to remove the ward_**

So, they hadn't left him he thought to himself, he wondered what the message he hadn't read had said, no doubt it had been a warning about the Death Eaters and the ward.

"You have come to the end of your road now." Rodolophus said then, "You are perhaps almost equal in skill to Bellatrix, shame you're on the wrong side of this fight otherwise you would have made for an excellent Death Eater. I can see the dark and ruthless part of you that you keep buried when you duel, you keep it contained but it is there, we could have taught you to harness that power."

His words turned Harry's stomach, they touched too close to home and if someone like Rodolophus could see his darker side which had only grown stronger in the last two years then no wonder Ron was so nervous of what he was becoming.

"I only harm those that would harm those I care for." Harry snapped, "And do not presume to tell me about myself. I have not forgotten what you, your brother and demented wife did to my godmother."

A look of pure malice passed over Rodolophus' features.

"You should have heard them scream." He said evilly, "Oh I will never forget that sound, it was like music."

Harry looked at him furious now and he his wand twitched, and he felt the deep desire to maim and harm rose up within him from somewhere, the thought which was so dark and twisted felt completely foreign to Harry as he contemplated following the will of that desire and pushed it aside with effort.

"I promise that you, your brother and that blood traitor witch you call a wife will get you comeuppance." Harry vowed, "And I hope that before it is all said and done you experience every ounce of pain and suffering you have inflicted on others. A quick death would be a mercy for the likes of you. And when the time comes your mudblood master will rot in the ground be forgotten like the piece of filth that he is."

"You dare!" Rodolophus shouted and he spat at Harry's feet, "You speak of the Dark Lord as if you are his equal, but you are nothing but a child still, one who survived by chance and some skill. But you are not a worthy adversary of the Dark Lord, only Dumbledore could claim to be that, you are not even worthy enough to look on the Dark Lord when he ends your life."

"I would rather not look on his face, even a mother couldn't love that face." Harry said bitingly and then he remembered Merope Gaunt and how Voldemort came to be in the Orphanage and he laughed dangerously. "No wonder he was abandoned in an orphanage, who could love such a creature? I mean other than your own wife."

Suddenly Harry felt a powerful mental spike pierce through his mind as he laughed, and he became dizzy and he briefly lost sight of Rodolophus as his vision blurred. Rodolophus looked murderous and raised his wand and was about to strike at Harry when a cold voice suddenly broke through the air.

"Enough Rodolophus."

From Knockturn Alley Voldemort appeared, barefooted and holding is yew wand lightly aloft in his hand. His black robes in stark contrast to his pale complexion and the red eyes bore into Harry.

Seeing Voldemort in front of him Harry's blood went cold and he felt true fear now that he hadn't felt in a long time. He needed an escape and he needed do it immediately, they couldn't face each other yet it was too early and he was still anchored to life. He pressed his arm where the communicator lay and sent an urgent message.

 ** _HBP: HURRY UP! VOLDEMORT IS HERE!_**

Harry did not take his eyes off Voldemort as he stalked towards him, Harry watched as he looked over the unconscious bodies of his Death Eaters and he tutted in mock disappointment.

"Look at what you have done, you caused them a great deal of pain by the time you were done." Voldemort scolded, "If Dumbledore could see you now, he would see the wizard you have become and would weep."

"Dumbledore can have his opinions; I am my own man." Harry replied coolly, "I am what you made me, you made me the day you killed my parents."

"Oh, you were nothing but a foolish mistake on my part as you well know." He corrected coldly, "yet here you stand, and you think you can match me Harry Potter? I think you overestimate your own self worth and abilities. Your power is mediocre."

Harry laughed now, it was hollow and almost as cold as Voldemort's own, "If that is true then why do you want me dead? If I'm so insignificant you would never have come for me as a baby, you would have ignored the Prophecy of that foretells your end."

"You have grown bold Harry Potter, no doubt Blacks influence." Voldemort noted and he regarded him closely for a moment before he spoke again, "but he is dead now, dead at my order like that interfering Bones woman. I defeated an obstacle and gave one of my faithful Death Eaters a chance to fulfil his school day wish to kill your adoptive father and gained his unending loyalty."

Harrys eyes grew wide as he realised what he was insinuating.

Seeing the surprise on Harrys face Voldemort laughed loudly in delight at seeing the impact of those words.

"Yes, it was Severus Snape who finally killed Lord Black within the ministry. He all but begged me for the pleasure of doing it himself and being a merciful lord, I agreed."

Anger boiled up in Harry, the hatred he had always felt for the Hogwarts potion master grew far stronger and Harry regretted not catching him the night of the Astronomy Tower. If he had stopped Snape that night then Sirius would be alive, and it also confirmed it was Harrys fault Sirius was dead.

"Such anger." Voldemort said watching him with delight, "I can feel it fuelling you now, yet you cannot harness that power, such a waste of potential. But I must finish what I started all those years ago in Godric's Hollow."

Harrys wand tip glowed bright as a blasting curse shot from it and went spiralling towards Voldemort who blocked it with a swipe of his wand and retaliated with a series of his own curses some Harry knew but other he didn't so he made sure he wasn't standing still in case his shields failed.

A look of fury came over Voldemort's face as the strength of two of Harrys curses struck at his shield charm and were blocked however, they were strong enough to force him back a step. He retaliated with his own powerful curses which caused Harry to bolster his own defensive charms with more power and he countered two curses in mid-air with his own spells not trusting the shields to hold against them.

It did not surprise Harry that Voldemort was able to block every one of his spells, he knew Tom Riddle had been one of the most accomplished and talented wizards Hogwarts had ever seen. There was also a reason he was so feared and that the only one who could have challenged him was Dumbledore.

Harry did not pretend to himself that this was a duel of equals, Voldemort surpassed him in both power and skill and Harrys own knowledge of magic was mediocre in comparison.

As they duelled the raw magical power that was being expended by the two of them could be felt reverberating throughout Diagon Alley. The power of magic that Harry now faced was beyond anything that Harry had ever felt as Voldemort's spells became stronger and stronger as Harry defiantly blocked and parried them.

The closest comparison to the strength he was being assaulted with had been during one DA session when the entire group had struck at his shields simultaneously. But from a single wizard, this power and level of strength was very intimidating, for Harry knew that should even one of his shields or counters falter even slightly and if was in the spells path then he would we dead.

As their duelling got more intense and heated Harry could feel his wand vibrating in his hand as it was paired off against its brother, and distantly he could hear a burst of phoenix song. Remembering what Dumbledore had explained about brother wands now allowing the one wands owner to harm the other he realised why he hadn't had a Cruciatus Curse or Killing Curse used against him.

As they duelled Harry looked up and met Voldemort's eyes and the moment he did he felt an attack on his mental barriers and he tried to use legilimency on him.

He felt the attack hit his mind hard, it was far stronger than any attack Snape had ever unleashed on him while he learnt Occlumency and it was staggering as it was only being used passively without the incantation unless he had done in wandlessly.

"My mind is my own." Harry said sternly as he pushed off the mental assault, it was different to what Makos had subjected him to. It was stronger, and it felt more intrusive if that was possible.

"I will admit your skills have grown since the last time we duelled on the night of my return Harry Potter. However, your end at my hand is inevitable, and therefore your efforts are futile. I shall end you and none shall challenge Lord Voldemort." He said and sent a barrage of spells at Harry which he only just managed to block.

Mindful of mental attacks now Harry made sure to avoid further eye contact and kept his mental barriers fully erected and tried to watch for any sign of intrusion, even a stray surface thought could give away an advantage before he used a spell.

Suddenly Harry was thrown backwards four steps when a potent beam of magic poured from Voldemort's wand and he had to block it with a shield charm and it with the sound metal scraping together.

With his shield holding he became acutely away how powerful the spell being used against him was as his shield absorbed its power by using his own power to strengthen itself. He had seen Draco use the exact same type of spell against Neville in Durmstrang.

While he expanded copious amount of magic into the shield his wand was becoming harder and hard to hold still as it was vibrating potently as it reacted to the current power play between its owners.

Opposite him Harry could see through the magical disturbance in front of him that Voldemort was also suffering from the same effect as him just as much and he ended the spell and they were both left breathing heavily.

"Very good Harry." Voldemort congratulated, "Not many can say they have lasted this long in a duel against me, your parents each number among those that can, they would be proud. But this has gone on long enough, this ends now."

Voldemort began to stride towards Harry and he slashed his wand towards him and sent blasting curse after blasting curse at him which Harry began to block but the speed at which they were coming he realised he couldn't keep up the pace and needed power to block them head on.

Instead he began to divert them before they hit him, it reminded him of the muggle sport of tennis as he swiped them away, however the limit of this spell was that it was only good while he saw every spell that came his way and it didn't work on all curses.

None of the curses hit Harry, they instead flew passed him either hitting the banks walls, or the ground which would then explode in a shower of cobbles and earth while the banks marble wall remained intact but suffered nasty black blast marks where it was hit.

Suddenly Voldemort stopped walking towards Harry and his spell fire paused and he moved, and Harry instinctually knew what Voldemort was doing and as he twisted on the spot and began to disappear into the nothing between places and Harry thrust his wand forward and cast a spell he had learnt from the auror handbook that Tonks had given him.

Catching Voldemort mid apparition with an Anti-Disapparition Jinx without really thinking, left Voldemort entirely within Harrys control and and with a swing like a tennis serve Harry flung his wand behind him and the directed the jinx towards the marble front of the bank.

The jinx pulled Voldemort back into normal space and he was thrown through the air and landed bodily on the steps with a thump.

Harry moved away from the bank quickly and tried to retreat further up the Alley as Voldemort jumped to his feet and spun and looked furious and his robes were dishevelled, and his head was bleeding from his fall. His red eyed gleamed with murderous intent which only intensified when he saw the smug smile that Harry couldn't contain.

His wand came up and another destructive Curse shot at Harry, however this one rippled and bloomed and it crackled with its raw and destructive power and Harrys eyes went wide as he realised Voldemort had poured every ounce of his fury into that spell and its intent was to annihilate him.

" _Tectum Avertus_!" Harry cried out in haste a purple diamond shaped shield charm formed around him and the curse hit the leading edge and split in two and passed Harry harmlessly on either side.

The curse had been redirected into the buildings either side of Harry and two shops exploded as the curse pulled them apart with a loud boom.

Harry turned in shock at seeing the devastation that the blasting curse had wrought as it had all but destroyed two shops and damaged others, the alley outside of the bank was severely damaged from their duelling.

So, used to duelling within a protected and warded duelling arena, Harry had forgotten the warnings on the impact a duel had on the surrounding area and the devastation It could bring.

While he was distracted Harry didn't see Voldemort's wand move and it was still trained on Harry.

" _Avada Kedavra_!" Voldemort cried out and the brilliant green light of the spell blossomed from his wand tip.

The curses colour and the cry caught Harrys immediate attention and his eyes went wide and it all happened in slow motion as his brain tried to process what the information it was being fed by his eyes and ears and tried to come up with a quick response.

As Harry managed to bring his wand up to try and block the blossoming deadly green curse that was forming from Voldemort's wand he heard a loud burst of phoenix song.

Voldemort's wand twitched at the last moment as the spell was expelled from the wand tip, and what had been a deadly aim was moved askew.

Time resumed its normal speed suddenly and the curse shot from the wand and passed Harry by and it smashed through another shop window and a woman screamed from within. The curse that would have killed Harry had missed but had killed someone else.

Before Harry had a chance to retaliate for the murder of an innocent bystander something small and dark shot passed him and landed on the ground it exploded and a black fog filled the Alley, at the same time his wrist burnt hot and the floor beneath him disappeared and he was thrown sideways.

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	10. Chapter 10

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Ten**

 **September First**

For most children in the magical community of the British Isles, September First was the date that they made their way to Kings Cross Station to board the Hogwarts Express to make the journey north to school for that year.

The station would be swarming with parents and students alike, all of them laughing and chatting away excitedly or meeting up with friends. Children would run around the platform looking for people they knew or rushing around having fun, their parents happy to allow them to wander not doubting they were safe.

This year however was like none before it. Platform Nine and Three Quarters was almost silent. Families stood close together and tried not to interact with others. Where before people trusted their friends, they now regarded them with suspicion and fear.

It was also evident that something else had changed, there were some faces missing from the congregated masses however there were also newer faces that looked very out of place. The implementation of the Educational Reformation Act mad Hogwarts attendance mandatory for all the children in the British Isles, failure to send a child was punished harshly and they could be forcibly removed, and the parents sentenced to Azkaban.

Many of those newer faces were those who had formally been home-schooled or attended the Ministry run school. Now they stood huddled with their parents terrified and out of place not knowing what they should be doing or what awaited them.

Adults were trying to reassure their distraught children, however for all they tried they couldn't stop their children sensing the fear that surrounded them all. Most wanted nothing more than to grab their children and run away and hide from this new law.

Running however was not an option. The platform was patrolled by several ministry officials, they forced the families into an orderly queue and they first had to get passed a newly erected checkpoint.

Some families were escorted away by the officials after they consulted their lists for routine question regarding tuition fees, but they did not return to the platform and only increased the feeling of dread.

Neville Longbottom stepped through the portal to the Platform and came to an abrupt stop as he felt the fear in the air and studied the changes and immediately clenched his wand by its handle in his pocket.

Behind him stepped through his elderly yet severe-looking grandmother. She stopped next to him and she looked on at everything and the wrinkles on her face became more pronounced and if possible, her expression sterner as she eyed the ministry officials.

"Come Neville." She said tersely, and she strode onwards purposefully towards the lines of people waiting to get passed the checkpoint.

With a deep sigh Neville followed her forwards and remembered their dinner the night before. Neville had tried unsuccessfully to convince his gran that she needn't escort him to the platform now that he had his Apparition licence.

Augusta Longbottom had been resolute on the topic and would not be swayed.

"I have raised you since that night, I have seen you grow from that silent infant into the man that you are today." She had said, "You might now be the Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Longbottom and of age, but you are still my only grandson! I will see you off to school this final time and that is the end of the matter Neville."

Neville fingered the ring that he now wore openly on his right finger, it was the ring of House Longbottom. While his father was still alive the title and family magic were still bound to him, however under the Ancient Testimonies he was able to become head of the family given his father was mentally incapacitated.

It was a hollow tittle really, however Neville didn't mind at all. His father didn't have much in life now and Neville wasn't keen to take what little he still had a claim to from him.

They managed to cut through the line, many recognised Augusta and hastily moved away from the respected sharp-tongued elder Longbottom. She didn't acknowledge them parting before her but passed purposely passed them and joined the queue of families without a backwards look.

Neither of the Longbottom's were able to relax as the stood, they were watching the platform and were wary of it all. Neville was intrigued by the Ministry Officials who were stationed there, wondering if their presence was indicative of the ministry's failure to apprehend "Undesirable Number One" given his recent activities.

He took note that many of the members of the DA were in the crowd with their families and like Neville they were watching everything carefully and he noted they too were gripping their hidden wands. At the slightest sign of danger, they stood ready to act.

"I don't recognise some of these people, and some of them should be in my year." Neville muttered to his gran quietly as he looked at a young woman with silver-blonde hair and large distinctive birthmark on her neck who looked his age and he was certain he would have noticed her before.

"You will see many new faces at Hogwarts this year. The home-schooled and the ministry-schooled were attend so long as there not…" She replied glancing at the families around them, but she trailed off suddenly before adding. "They have no idea what they face at Hogwarts, but it will mean that has one of its largest rosters in almost a century."

Augusta had been furious after returning from the Wizengamot session where Pius Thicknesses was sworn in as the new Minister of Magic and had immediately passed new laws using his executive powers. The political alliance that Augusta had been a part of had tried to block the new law but had been undercut because the foundation of the new education laws had been laid by the Alliance spear headed by Lord Black prior to his death.

Two years ago, Neville had been startled to discovery that his gran was meeting with Lord Black following his exoneration for his apparent crimes and began restitution talks for the damage done to House Longbottom by a member of the Black Family. Following these early meetings, the two of them had become allies in the Wizengamot and together had created a strong political alliance with other likeminded Houses and members.

When Lord Blacks death was reported Neville was sad, having respected Sirius greatly and he felt sorry for Harry for losing his last guardian. However, his grandmother had likewise been saddened by his murder and the downward turn it created. She soon became furious as the work their political alliance had been twisted and changed by the Death Eater Regime and used as a platform for their agenda.

As they stood in the queue of parents and students, they both watched what was going on carefully, the family at the front was waiting for the official to check his lists and then he looked up at them and asked them to follow him for questioning. Neville wondered what the family had done to warrant such attention and he watched them walk across the platform and head for a door and just as they were passing through, he saw the student and gasped.

"What is it Neville." Augusta muttered urgently and saw where he was looking, and her face became sorrowful, "Do you know the girl?"

"That is Lydia Martin. She was part of the Hogwarts team last year during the exchange." He explained panicking slightly he saw more ministry officials within the room waiting for the family to enter, "I don't know of any reason they would have to speak with her…the only problem I can see is that she's a muggleborn…"

He went to step out of the queue when a very strong hand gripped his arm.

"Don't." Said a firm voice.

He looked behind him and saw a stern-faced Susan Bones, behind her were the Lord and Lady Abbot and their daughter Hannah who acknowledged the Longbottom's with a nod but didn't try to engage with them.

"But..." Neville protested but was cut off by Sue strengthening her grip.

"No." She said repeated tightly, "What can you do? If you cause a scene you will be arrested on the spot. If you're in Azkaban, you can be of help to no one. So, you will stand there and do nothing, so we can get aboard that train."

Neville regarded his friend closely and could see the anger that angled her features, and her eyes looked older than before. The death of her aunt and only guardian had hit her hard, but she wasn't about to be defeated and she wasn't going to let her aunt down.

She released his arm and took a step backwards and pretended like the entire incident hadn't happened, but as she released him, he saw the glint of a silver ring and a gemstone and realised that she was now Lady Susan Amelia Bones of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Bones.

Augusta had heard the entire exchange between her grandson and friend and nodded in approval as Neville returned to his place in the queue. A few minutes later they reached the front of the queue and walked up to the official and his list of students.

"Name." The official sniffing disdainfully at them.

"Neville Frank Longbottom." Neville said calmly, "Seventh Year, Gryffindor."

"Longbottom you say." The man said looking him over carefully and sniffed again, and checked his list, "You are cleared to embark."

"Thank you." Neville said sounding more sarcastic than he intended.

"Watch your tone boy." The official sneered.

They didn't linger much long, Augusta steered him towards the train and one of their house elves suddenly arrived by some unseen cue to deliver his trunk.

"You must be careful this year." She told him quietly once she was sure they were out of earshot, "I will not ask you to stay away from anything that happens, I know you couldn't even if you promised. Your too much like your mother to watch people getting hurt and do nothing to stop it when you have the power to help. Just remember that you will be alone at Hogwarts, you have to be smart and you have to be prepared for anything."

"Yes gran." Neville smiling softly, it was not often that she brought up Alice Longbottom as she had always favoured her son but in her own way, she did love them both.

"I mean it Neville." She said, her voice cracking slightly, "If I lost you too, I don't know..."

It was a surprise to her the normally intimidating woman sound so emotional and Neville smiled softly and did something that he had never thought he would do, he reached forwards and enveloped her in a tight embrace.

"What are you doing." She spluttered shocked by his action.

"Saying thank you for everything you have done." He said softly.

The embrace didn't last long, but his gran shooed him onto the train looking around consciously at his lack of decorum in front of people before she drew herself upright once more and stalked away from the platform.

Neville hauled himself onto the train and levitated his trunk in front of him and guided it into an open carriage as he had planned with his friends, and as he made himself comfortable, he did not put his wand away again, keeping in in his hand ready for anything.

A few minutes later the door to the carriage opened and his wand raised slightly and was pointed subtly towards the people who were coming inside, and he lowered it on seeing it was both Luna and Ginny.

"Hello Neville." Luna said dreamily and ignored his wand and began to haul her trunk into the luggage rack and Neville jumped belatedly up to help her slightly sheepishly. "Your grandmother was out of sorts when I saw her, do you have another infestation of Nargles at Hemlock Hall?"

"We probably do." Neville shrugged fondly, he never made fun of her eccentricities, they made her Luna. "But I think it was me who did that to her, I did something unthinkable."

"What did you do?" Ginny asked surprised as Neville helped her with her trunk, "Madam Longbottom is unflappable."

A smile quirked at Nevilles lips, his friend wasn't wrong, his grandmother usually was a very collected woman. "I hugged her on the platform."

Ginny and Luna exchange a look between themselves, they too had had long goodbyes with their families. In fact, Molly Weasley had to be given a calming draught as she had become frantic when the time come to leave the Burrow.

"This year will be unlike any others, it isn't right, but we must endure it and be ready for what is too come." Luna quietly looking out onto the platform and through the steam at something which they couldn't see but they knew what it was.

"I saw Lydia being taken away." Neville said through gritted teeth as he saw another official walk passed, "She was with us at Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, she was a nice and doesn't deserve this."

"No muggleborn deserves this." Ginny said tightly, "I know that many of them were warned not to come and some were put into hiding but there are a lot of them."

"We shouldn't talk like this." Neville said uncomfortably, he wondered if the ministry or death eaters could monitor them. Out of paranoia he began to mutter under his breath as he cast a collection of detection charms to see if there was any type of monitoring magic or hidden presences in the carriage and was relived to find that there were none.

The door slid open once more and they were joined by Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Ernie McMillan of Hufflepuff, Michael Corner, Padma Patil, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot of Ravenclaw, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patel of Gryffindor.

The atmosphere within the carriage was anxious, none of them relaxed as they watched the number of people on the platform grow with only minutes to spare as people wanted to limit the time that they were out in public however they all felt the absence of several of their friends who couldn't come to Hogwarts this year.

Choosing to stay quiet wasn't a verbal decision but it was one they all came to and they waited for the last of the students to clamber aboard the train and wait for it to leave.

When the door to the carriage opened, they all turned and expected it to be one of the officials doing a final check of the train before it departed but was surprised to find a large group of Slytherins students walk in.

Daphne Greengrass and her sister Astoria, Tracy Davis, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Cameron Du Vant, Joshua Danvers and followed closely by the Gryffindor Mordred Du Vant.

It was a surprise to see them as they were the only Slytherin students who had joined the DA and Neville had assumed that they would keep to themselves this year given all the changes and especially living in the snake pit that was the Slytherin Common rooms.

However, it seemed that Neville's instincts were correct when they didn't settle themselves down in the carriage and walked from one end to the other and through the door to the next one without so much as a word or a look exchanged.

Watching them carefully as they passed, he noted that Daphne had firmly fixed her stoic, cold mask of indifference back on and he was reminded of the intimidating and aloof girl who had walked the castle for their first four years of school. Mordred following them was not a surprise as he was with his elder brother and cousin.

He wondered if there was more to their presence than merely looking for a place to sit and wondered if it was a coincidence or not.

"They've closed ranks amongst themselves, limiting their exposure to those who could bring undue attention on them." Susan said quietly looking at the door they had just walked through critically. "I recognise Daphne and Notts hand in that show and it was a message to us. They stand alone now, and they cannot be seen with us or interact with us at all."

"Everyone will be watched carefully, but some more than others. Daphne will be monitored despite her blood. Her relationship with Harry is not entirely a secret and has been whispered about for the last year." Neville pointed out and wondered if it had been wise to take her to the Weasley Wedding this summer.

"Not only that." Terry added, "Her father married this summer and the rumour is that the new Lady Greengrass is already with child. If that child is a son, he will inherit the title and estate while Greengrass will be relegated to a prize broodmare for the purebloods."

Neville exchanged an amused snort with Susan, Hannah and surprisingly Ginny shared in their humour.

"Daphne might be a highborn lady of a great house, but she is still one of the most capable women I've met." Susan repulsed.

Many of them within the carriage were purebloods but none of them followed many of the more antiquated practices followed by the other elitist purebloods of their society in which they themselves ranked.

"If you think she will allow herself to be sold off or forced into an arranged marriage you don't know her at all. But that message was clear as day. Don't try and speak to any of them unless they approach you." She continued.

The Hogwarts Express gave a shrill final whistle and the carriage shuddered slightly as the train began to pull away from the station. Everyone watched as the platform got shorter and shorter and eventually, they had left the station entirely and were trapped aboard the train.

Ernie looked down at his watch and frowned.

"Damn, we have to go to the Prefects carriage." He said apologetically.

"It's not your fault." Ginny said waving the apology away, "Go, but return as soon as you can, it is better that we are together."

The compartment felt partially barren with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Prefects gone.

"Have new prefects been appointed for Gryffindor?" Terry asked with interest, "Your Seventh-Year prefects aren't attending this year after all."

"No idea." Neville shrugged, "I would imagine McGonagall would have told either Seamus or I if we were being appointed as we are the only two boys left in our year and we haven't heard anything have we?"

Seamus shook his head and snorted. "No but I doubt she would appoint me, I have been caught in too many broom closets!"

"Have you heard from Dean?" Ginny asked Seamus, he might be her ex-boyfriend, but she still cared.

Seamus looked very uncomfortable now, "We spoke prior to the appointment of Minister Thicknesse, he decided to go on the run and follow register with the commission."

"So, he has run." Luna said in her usual dreamy voice but sounded intrigued, "But is he actually muggleborn? Does he know who is father was? If he was a wizard, then he is a halfblood."

"His mother does not know the truth of who his father was, she believes that he could have been a wizard, but he had many secrets and she is even unsure of his name." Seamus explained, "It has frustrated Dean tirelessly. He could have tried to claim be a halfblood, but the commission would demand proof of his father's bloodline which he cannot provide."

"For all we know Dean could be of the ancient bloodlines, or of course he could be muggleborn." Luna said sadly her eyes misted over for moment as she was deep in thought, "But I have always liked Dean. He gave me tips to help me with my painting last year. He was always kind."

"Shall we finally talk about what I am sure we have all heard about?" Terry said eagerly with a brief look to the carriages doors to ensure they were closed. "What happened in Diagon Alley two days passed?"

"Terry!" Susan hushed looking around horrified as if expecting a Death Eater to be sitting in one of the empty seats.

Neville flicked his wand towards the door and muttered his incantations as he had yet to master the art of nonverbal spells and placed an imperturbable charm around it and the others began to place other charms around their carriage.

Once the spells were in place Terry immediately asked a question that he had been wanting to ask since he got on the train.

"So, what did exactly happen? I have heard so many rumours and they all differ."

The occupants of the carriage exchange a look between themselves but eventually all gazes fell on Ginny.

"Why are you looking at me." She asked looking a little alarmed.

"Well your infamous twin brothers shop offers a good view of the front steps of the bank." Susan explained easily, "But we all know that you seem to know more about things that we often do, so out with it Weasley!"

Ginny bit her lip for a moment, most of the students in the compartment knew about the Order of the Phoenix but Ginny had never confirmed their suspicions that her family were active members of the secret society.

"The rumours are true." She said quietly, "Harry was ambushed by Death Eaters as he left and was trapped by anti-transportation wards. A fight broke out between them, but Harry was able to defeat them using one of the tricks he taught the DA with water and lightning. His success was short-lived as You-Know-Who arrived, and another duel broke out."

Everyone looked enthusiastic at the news that Harry was out there and had fought the Death Eaters and won however at the mention of You-Know-Who their faces fell, and they became worried.

"He duelled You-Know-Who!" Lavender exclaimed horrified, "but he got away! That's not possible."

"Of course, it is!" Terry exclaimed, "Harrison is a prodigy when it comes to duelling."

"And You-Know-Who is a hardly a slouch." Parvati pointed out with a shiver.

"The twins said the duel was fought as a stalemate between them." Ginny continued on dutifully, "apparently Harry humiliated You-Know-Who by throwing him across the Alley and he landed in a heap on the banks steps. His fury was terrible then, he immediately tried to use the Killing Curse to end Harry but failed. Harry eventually was able the flee the duel when the containment ward broke and he got away before more reinforcements arrived."

Everyone exchanged looked and many a brow was raised, and they were awed by the sound of the duel between their friend and the darkest wizard of the age.

"That is not how the Prophet reported the incident. They said that the DMLE received a tip off that the criminal Harrison Black-Potter was within the bank and sent officials to take him into custody because of that nonsense about his involvement in the death of Lord Black. The Prophet said that Harrison immediately attacked them" Terry said darkly, "They said that during his escape Harry killed a dozen or more innocent people and destroyed several the shops. I don't trust the Prophets account at all, but many do. Is there any truth to it?"

"That is the Prophet pushing the Death Eater agenda!" Ginny retorted angrily, "That is not what happened at all!"

"None of us believe that Harry had anything to do with the death of Lord Black." Neville reassured her, "Harry loved Sirius we all saw that."

"According to the twins that duel was awe inspiring, they said the amount of magic and power being used was intense and they could feel in even in their shop." Ginny explained, "You-Know-Who's killing curse missed Harry and hit an innocent person. However, there is some truth in the report I suppose. You-Know-Who sent a powerful curse at Harry, he couldn't block it entirely and had to divert it, but it caused the curse to hit the surrounding shops, three of which collapsed, and a fire started. That was how those people died."

Neville gasped as she recounted the truth and immediately saw a problem. The Prophets report on the fight was flawed and he saw through their propaganda against his friend. However, there was enough truth, twisted as it was to make the story believable.

"So, it was an accident." Neville said easily making the distinction, "Harry didn't actively kill those people. You-Know-Who killed one with the killing curse, and his other curse destroyed the buildings which caused those other deaths."

Terry frowned at him, "That is a subjective view, Harrison caused those deaths by diverting the curse away from himself, by saving himself he killed the others."

Ginny and Neville cast him a nasty look of warning.

Terry quickly raised his hands in surrender, "Woah! I don't like it any more than you but that is the truth of it. I will be down to the people to make up their own opinion on who caused those deaths should the truth ever be published, something I don't have much faith in."

Susan looked conflicted as she digested what she was told, and Neville saw it on her face and asked her what was wrong.

"My aunt told me this type of incident has destroyed a number of careers within the Auror office in the past." She said, "this is very serious, they are never black and white. I agree though, Harry would never have done it if he thought there would be a loss of life. If I know him, he would have probably just taken the curse himself just to stop that."

Ginny nodded, "he would, if he learns about this he will be devastated."

"Do we know what they are doing?" Terry asked with interest.

"They who?" Ginny said tightly, "I wasn't aware there was a they here."

Terry visibly gulped seeing the challenge on her face.

"Well Harry won't be alone will he. The Golden Trio will be out there fighting together as they always do." Seamus said rolling his eyes. "Are you telling me that Hermione and Ron are not out there this moment with Harry?"

"I have made no such comment at all." Ginny snapped. "I don't know where Hermione is. And my brother is ill which is why he has not attended school this year."

The carriage became silent as she finished speaking but it was obvious none believed her.

"Ginny is right." Neville said carefully, and he eyed them all, "we know Harry is out there fighting. But we do not know where Hermione is except that she is most probably in hiding, I don't think any of us would say she was foolish enough to try and come to school this year. If any of us have other thoughts to the contrary, you should keep them to yourselves."

"It's true." Susan said firmly, "we could be questioned under veritaserum, and it is better not to speculate."

"Hermione has not been seen since my brother's wedding and we do not know where she is." Ginny reiterated sternly daring anyone to contradict her. "Harry is on his own doing who knows what. And my brother is ill with a serious contagious infection. That is all that we know and that is how it should remain."

Talk within their carriage all but ceased after that, none of the others felt comfortable speaking out of fear that doing so could reveal something or reinforce a believe that could be compelled out of them.

Neville sat next to the window looking out as they left the muggle metropolis behind and thought about the conversation. He, Ginny and Luna had met up in the summer at his house and they'd tried to predict what school would be like and what they could do to fight Snape.

They had mainly agreed that they could come up with all manner of theories but until they were at school, they couldn't make any actual plans. Instead they decided that it would be down to the three of them to help people in the Golden Trio's stead.

It was strange to think of Gryffindor Tower without the Golden Trio in residence and not there to lead and protect them all or uncover some mysterious plot. It was a commonly held belief that if something dark and dangerous was afoot then they would no doubt stop it.

Ginny's account of the duels at Diagon Alley made Neville wonder where Hermione and Ron were. He didn't have proof, but he thought it likely that they were there but merely a hidden presence helping Harry from the shadows. There had been a containment ward over the Alley that trapped Harry originally but somehow it was broken.

Was that the work of the other two? Or had someone else assisted in his escape?

Neville knew that he would miss Harry this year, he wished that Harry could be there with them even now. He would probably be silently thinking and staring out of the window like Neville was doing now thinking of ways to fight back against the Death Eaters under their noses but also to ensure they protected the innocent students.

But that responsibility fell now to Neville and he sighed deeply at the weight he felt pressing on him and it drew Ginny and Luna's attention and they saw his worried frown and tried to distract him.

 **o-HP-o**

It had been a few days since the fight between Harry and Voldemort and they had spent those days ensuring that they were not being followed or monitored in any way and had travelled all over the country and hadn't settled in once place more for more that six hours at once.

When they had escaped Diagon Alley they had landed in a farmer's field in oxford surrounded by startled cows spread across the grazing fields. But they were fortunately alone and there was no sign that they had been tracked as no Death Eaters suddenly appeared.

The moment Harry had felt the ground return to under his feet, he'd flinched with the sudden brightness of the morning sun, and the movement around him caused him to immediately dive away expecting spell fire and a shield charm blossomed protectively around him as he moved.

It had been a shock to Harry to find himself facing not Voldemort who only moments before had been trying to kill him but Ron and Hermione, but he kept his wand drawn and pointed at them both much to their horror given the look in his eyes.

"Wait! It's us!" Ron had cried out raising his empty hands in surrender, "We got away! Don't curse us Harry!"

While Harry could clearly see that they were not in London anymore, and looked to be out of immediate danger he just hadn't been able to relax his arm or mind. His body was alive, every nerve and muscle burned with energy, his heart raced, and he felt the blood pounding in his ears.

"I promise you Harry." Hermione said taking a measured step forward only to stop when Harrys expression hardened. "We are in Oxford, nowhere near him. We are safe for now."

He had been unsure of himself then, taking a step backwards away from them both but as he did his legs became unsteady and he stumbled backwards barely managed to stay on his feet.

Hermione and Ron tried to help him, but Harry stopped them as his wand sparked dangerously, like a wounded animal snarling at any who approached.

"Where were you both." Harry had demanded, "Why were you not there when I needed you."

His friends exchanged a worried look between them at his tone and it was obvious he was not ready to allow anyone near him. Ron gave Hermione a very pointed look telling her that it was best if she handled the explanation.

"When it became apparent that they were Death Eaters and that they were there for you it was already too late, they activated a dormant ward scheme over the entire Alley." Hermione explained cautiously, "We sent you the message to warn you that they were waiting at the line and of the ward. I realised that there was no way for us to leave the Alley until the ward was broken so I decided to bring it down and Ron came with me."

"So, while the two of you were off breaking a ward you left me, on my own. To face thirteen Death Eaters." Harry had snapped viciously, "YOU LEFT ME ON MY OWN! AND HE CAME! I FOUGHT HIM AGAIN AND YOU ABANDONED ME!"

"Harry, we didn't know he would turn up!" Ron said defensively and looked pale at the mere thought of being in Voldemort's presence, "We knew it was a risk to leave you on your own, but I thought you could handle the Death Eaters, I thought Hermione would need help and protection while she brought the ward down. If we had known he would come we wouldn't have gone, but if we hadn't, we wouldn't have escaped!"

Harry had glared at Ron at that moment and felt the overwhelming urge to curse him painfully, feeling that while he had been duelling the darkest wizard in recent history, and while Hermione broke the ward on the Alley, Ron had just been standing there doing nothing

"We should not have been in that Alley." Harry had managed to spit out, "this entire situation could have been avoided if you had listened to me! I said from the start that it was a bad idea, but you refused to listen to me! You had to force the issue! Throwing all caution out of the bloody window just to try and rush everything."

"Well at least we did something." Ron growled, "If we left it down to you, we still would be trying to decide where to go next! You have no idea where those Horcruxes are! We were going in circles and you know it, I gave us a direction!"

"We did something?" Harry snapped back, "We did something? Tell me Ron what did you do? Did you duel him? Did you duel the Death Eaters? Did you protect the people in the Alley? Did you even lift your wand? As far as I can see you did nothing!"

Ron had been furious and had flinched like Harry had punched him.

"Well what exactly did you do then Harry?" Ron spat back his eyes on fire now with a fury Harry had never seen. "Yes, you duelled them all and managed not to die. Well done mate. But did you protect the people? No! People died because you couldn't protect them!"

Now it was Harrys turn to step backwards and he felt like Ron and kicked him below the belt and a deep sicky feeling creeped through his stomach, he looked at Ron horrified by his words and they cut him deeply.

Suddenly Hermione stepped between them before the argument could escalate further.

"Enough you two." She'd pleaded giving Ron a hard look telling him to drop it. "Harry you need to calm down and let me have a look at you, your bleeding."

"I am fine." Harry said tightly, his legs were trembling now, and his body was cold. "I didn't need your help then, and I don't need it now."

Hermione looked hurt by his words, but it didn't stop her moving towards him, she was braver than Ron when it came to Harrys anger.

"Yes, you do." She had told him pointedly "Your bleeding and you're as pale as a ghost. You can barely stand Harry, please let me look at you."

Harry had looked own at himself and was surprised to have found that his robes were sodden, a dark patch had spread across his belly and his left hand dripped with blood. The moment he had seen the blood he became acutely aware of the injuries and pain registered with his brain.

"What happened to me." Harry demanded as he holstered his wand and probed his side and hissed with pain and became dizzy and he fell backwards and onto the floor.

Hermione had hurried over and quickly wordlessly vanished his outer robe leaving him in what had been a white shirt but was now stained scarlet and she gasped.

"I need to stop the bleeding now." She'd told him and then vanished his ruined shirt and exposed the deep laceration across the right side of his abdomen and another on his left-hand forearm.

Harry had realised as he saw his wounds that at some point two spells had hit him, either slipping through his various shield charms between casting or they had not been strong enough to block all the magic thrown at him.

However, what had worried him most was that he hadn't known who or when the damage had been done.

"I didn't even notice." Harry had muttered to himself.

"It was the adrenalin." Hermione had explained, and she had looked about ready to start to try and heal his injuries even while her hands shook with worry.

But she was stopped by Ron who had gone pale seeing Harrys injuries.

"No, don't! You need to check his body for residual magic, if that was caused by a curse you need to remove the traced of the magic or it won't heal."

Ron had crouched down next to Harry, their previous argument forgotten as he pointed his wand at the wound and began to cast numerous spells over him and slowly removed the residual magic with Harrys help and then healed it himself.

The mission had been almost complete failure and it was one that Harry blamed almost entirely on Ron for his insistence on pursuing it. Harry eventually could admit after two days that he could only have got away with his life because Hermione broke the ward over the Alley, and eventually learned that it had been Ron who had thrown the Darkness Powder as a distraction but it by no means alleviated the blame Harry placed on him.

Today however was a very odd day for the three of them, it was September First normally they would have been aboard the Hogwarts Express and on their way to Hogwarts. Instead they were had stopped in a muggle supermarket to buy a meagre amount of food with the money they had left before they found a place to stay for the evening.

Deciding where to go next was no simple matter, they agreed that they needed to steer clear of anywhere they familiar to them or could be easily traced to their past. However more often they replied on luck by pointing to a random place on a map and traveling there.

Harry had listed to both Ron and Hermione argue for half an hour while he sat and looked through his note book and added notes here and there and jotted down his thoughts on where to look next or comments on Voldemort. They were trying to decide where they should go next as they were due to move on from their current bolt hole.

Finally having enough of their bickering, he pocketed the book and grabbed each of them firmly and took them by side-long apparition.

What made Harry pick their destination he couldn't say, however as he looked on it, he found it somewhat fitting.

They had landed on a spur of rock out at sea where a two-story shack sat swaying in the wind and the waves crashed against the rocks.

"Where in the name of Merlin are we?" Ron said aghast looking at the shack with distaste and he turned and saw that they were out at sea and how they were apparently trapped on the island. "How can you keep finding worse places to stay than the day before?"

"Because unlike you, I can make do." Harry said stiffly, he had stayed here before and it wasn't so bad and with magic it would be much better. Hermione coped better than he had thought she would, sure her temper became frayed occasionally but compared to Ron she was a saint. "Come on"

Harry remembered the last time he had been here and remembered it as a much simpler time in his life, although he had been unhappy, even compared to how he felt now. At least he now knew who he was and that he had a place in the world.

The Shack was empty, which was hardly a surprise giving its dilapidated state, it had deteriorated since Harry had stayed there six years previously.

"It will do." Hermione shrugged at Ron and quickly followed Harry towards the door and looked around keenly no doubt wondering how he knew it was there.

"Does it even have plumbing?" Ron asked grumpily.

Harry didn't bother replying as he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The shack was much as Harry remembered it. Cold, dank, stinking of seaweed and covered in a thick layer of dust. However, when Harry had turned eleven, he had no use of a wand or magical education. In fact, back then he hadn't known he was even a wizard until late in the night.

With their magic and experience of cleaning Black House and the other places they had found to stay recently they removed all the dirt and grime, a big warm fire danced in the fireplace. They blocked out the sounds of waves hitting the rocks outside and created an invisible barrier around the shack which stopped the cold wind blowing through the cracks in the walls.

The island itself was hidden from the prying eyes of the muggles on the shore by a web of protective magic which Harry and Hermione had reinforced more thoroughly than they had before as Hermione said that they would stay in the shack for a few days to rest up and come up with a plan for what they would do next.

Harry sat in a corner of the shack with the Flamel Journal on his lap out of sight of Hermione and Ron who were attempting to make something to eat for lunch and Harry was using the time to get some space away from them both.

The duel with the Death Eaters and Voldemort had taken a toll on Harry. His injuries hadn't been too serious, and Ron had healed him soon enough, but the true toll had been the exhaustion from the use of so much magic. Normally Harry would recover quickly enough given a night of sleep, but sleep was just another enemy of Harrys now.

A powerful headache had been Harrys constant companion since the duel, and it pressed painfully on his mind and it made it difficult to read and even see straight. It was a physical pain manifested by the connection he shared with Voldemort and one that no amount of occlumency had been able to push away.

Harry didn't share his concerns with his friends, but he was acutely aware that the duel had been one of most demanding experiences he had ever had. For all his training he had been unprepared for the power of Voldemort, however he thought the cause of his headaches was due to Voldemort attempting to invade his mind.

The book Nicolas Flamel had given him was the perfect book to distract Harry, he found its contents incredibly interesting and intriguing as it not only listed certain magical practices but alluded to different areas of study and other magic.

This section was an account of a Persian mother who had been cursed with a blood malediction and had unknowingly passed it on to her only daughter and tried to find a way to cure the curse. It was a fascinating read and the mother had delved into ancient magical practices that were both ritualistic and considered dark in modern times.

Harry was sitting wondering who had added this entry to the journal when Hermione came over with a cup of tea.

"Hey. I thought you could do we a cup of tea." She said handing him the chipped cup, she frowned at the journal not recognising it but didn't comment. "Ron is outside trying to catch fish. We burnt the soup we tried to cook."

"Thanks." Harry sighed.

"The two of you need to resolve whatever these issues are between you." She told him, "if you don't then it will only end in a confrontation or cause a disaster."

"Like that trip to Gringotts?" Harry asked pointedly, daring her to contradict him and he saw her flinch and immediately felt bad. "Sorry, you didn't deserve that, you got us out of there. But we should never have gone, and it was his fault that we did. I don't care if we follow dead ends but that was a fool's errand and we could have died. If we die who else can destroy the Horcruxes? What would have happened to the other Weasleys had he been discovered?"

Hermione looked at him for a long moment before she spoke.

"There is a silver lining." She said hesitantly, "Your fought him in a duel and you fought him to a stalemate. Not many other wizards can claim they have done that."

Harry snorted disdainfully having already mentally gone over that duel to make sure he was prepared for the future and came to a conclusion. "I caught him by surprise, he did not know the extent of my powers, but he will have a good measure of them now. He knows more magic that I do, he has honed his skills for decades. That might have looked like a stalemate, but it wasn't, if that duel had continued then it would have ended differently. I am just lucky we share wand cores."

She considered his words but didn't seem to believe him which irritated Harry, they never believed him when it came to his abilities. "That might be so, however that duel was witnessed, word will spread, and it will inspire hope."

"Just what I need." Harry said ruefully, "I was the boy-who-lived all my life and now I am the Chosen One who will vanquish the Dark Lord. I hate the ridiculous prophecy! I just want to be a normal seventeen-year-old who attends Hogwarts and is worrying about NEWTS."

"That is the dream of all children." Hermione told him, and she looked far away now, as if picturing herself at school. "You know its September First don't you, the train left three hours ago. It feels odd."

Harry realised that he hadn't kept track of the date, it made him conscious of time and how long they had been out in the world without accomplishing anything and it made him feel Ron was right. But now that he knew he felt a type of loss at the thought of not starting school and missing the sight of the ancient castle that was a home to him.

"I wonder what Neville and the others are doing right now." Harry said taking a sip of his tea and wishing to have a cold glass of pumpkin juice from the trolley, "They will have to look after each other now, with Snape as Headmaster things will not be like they were."

Hermione wrapped her jacket around her for comfort, and Harry saw that she too longed to return to the school where she had so much knowledge yet to devour. She then looked at Harry and looked like she wanted to ask a question but seemed to think better of it.

"What is it." Harry asked her raising an eyebrow, "I can see you want to ask something so ask."

He caught her by surprise, but she asked the question anyway.

"How did you know about this place?" She asked, "You brought us here directly, so you must have known it was here."

Harry was surprised by the question but should have known that she would be curious about it.

"I told you years ago that when my Hogwarts letters came that my aunt and uncle tried to hide them from me to prevent me becoming a wizard." Harry explained, it seemed like so long ago now, but he oddly found it funny to remember the lengths his uncle had gone. "The letters kept arriving in large numbers, so the Uncle tried to run from the owls. We travelled for days but wherever we went the letters always found us and then eventually he found this shack and brought us here."

Hermione laughed, "He tried to out run and hide from a post owl?"

"I know." Harry smiled, "He was ignorant to their magic of course, so too was my aunt I think, or she just kept quiet and hoped it would all go away. It was here in this shack that I found out I wasn't some orphaned kid around who weird things happened, but I was a wizard and part of a different world."

Hermione understood him better than anyone, she knew his relationship with his muggle relatives was strained and there was bad history but she herself remembered the day Professor McGonagall came and explained that she was a witch and it was a key moment in her life.

"It was Hagrid who came wasn't it?" She asked, "I remember you saying it was Hagrid who brought you to Diagon Alley."

"Yeah it was." Harry said fondly, "He created quite the impression on a young eleven-year-old I can tell you. In a way it was quite apt for Hagrid to bring me back to the magical world when it was him who took me from Godric's Hollow and took me to my aunts. There is a certain symmetry there, like it was fate or something."

The door to the shack creaked open and Ron stepped in and held up three large fish with magic in front of him, when he saw Harry and Hermione sitting drinking tea his face fell and became sour and he stomped over to the stove and left the fish on the side.

Harry stood up and dusted himself off and took his cup and book towards what passed as a kitchen which was basically a table and metal stove and looked over the fish. He didn't know if they were even edible and truthfully wasn't that fond of fish.

"Can you cook them?" Ron asked him.

"I can try." Harry shrugged, and he pulled out his wand and began to prepare them as best he knew how.

As Harry worked Hermione sat herself on the old sofa and flicked through the pages of notes which detailed their research into Voldemort and places that might mean something to him and hoped to see something, she hadn't in the hundred other times she had look through them.

Ron had taken Harrys place in the corner and set out a chess board in front of him and was looking at it critically but made no attempt to play and was deep in thought. When lunch was ready, they quickly ate the grilled fish, it wasn't much but it was edible and filled a hole in their stomachs and they returned to their various tasks.

It was late in the evening now, Harry had managed to get some sleep which had made him feel better and his headache had receded enough to allow him to sit outside surrounded by the ocean and work on his occlumency skills to try and close himself off from Voldemort and to seal away his guilt over Sirius.

He placed a metal bowl in front of him and conjured a ball of fire to sit within it and reached out to the bowl mentally and used wandless magic to make it levitate in the air and began his control exercise.

Breathing deeply in and out he turned his attention inside and closed his eyes, visualising his mental landscape and worked to sort through it and restore the barriers that had seemingly vanished. A cold shiver passed through Harry suddenly and he felt a darkness leaking through a crack in his defence.

Pushing the connection away and forcing it closed was not easy, it was like trying to stop your blood pumping around your own body through a mental command. There was a flicker from within the darkness and Harry felt a flicker of Voldemort's emotions, he felt fury and hatred flow into him.

Suddenly there was a clang of metal and Harry felt a wave of heat on his face.

Opening his eyes Harry saw the bowl rolling away on its side and the fire had burnt out, sighing he flicked his fingers towards the bowl to summon it to him, but it rolled further away, and he was forced to summon it with his wand.

"You know you really should be careful you don't burn your eyebrows off." Ron said making Harry jump having not heard him approach, "but you should come back inside. I have had a thought."

Harrys face fell as Ron finished speaking as those last words registered and Ron noticed immediately, and he went red about the face and ears.

"Just come inside." Ron snapped, and he stormed away from Harry without another word.

Taking a few minutes to work through another calming exercise to make sure he didn't curse Ron when he went inside and to make sure that his mental barriers were intact after the last exercise failed. Once he was sure that he was somewhat calm Harry stood up and stretched and went back inside.

"What did you want?" Harry asked joining them in the living area.

"I told you before we need to ensure that we get a message out to the people and try and inspire hope." Ron said, "It was my idea to place the message in the ministry to try and inspire an insurrection there or to spread rumours of an underground fight against the Dark Regime."

"I remember." Harry said, "I delivered your message myself as we left."

"That was just one message." Ron said simply, "We need to spread that message across the entire country. We need to remind people that we are out here. We need to grab the attention of the Regime and give people the breathing room to fight back, the order could use that breathing room too I would imagine."

Harry looked between his friends expecting another shoe to drop but none did. He took a seat with them and got comfortable.

"Did you have something in mind?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Ron smiled, and he placed his chess board on the table and began to explain.

 **o-HP-o**

The sun was setting, and the sky was darkening as the Hogwarts Express continued its journey north passing the large green fields and hills and crossed over valleys on old bridges. It was a familiar sight to all who attended Hogwarts, but it was a slow way to travel and the scenery soon lost its charm in the tedium.

Surprisingly it had been an uneventful journey so far. The members of the DA had been left alone in their carriage and hadn't been challenged at all. When the prefects and Head Boy and Girl patrolled the train, they had not lingered in their carriage and just ensured that everyone was settled and made no comment on the wands in people hands.

It had not been a surprise to anyone to find that Draco Malfoy was appointed Head Boy along with Pansy Parkinson as Head Girl. But when Draco passed through the carriage he had looked around and moved on without so much as a word or a look of contempt. Parkinson however sneered at them nastily as she hurried to catch up with her partner.

She looked like she couldn't wait to make their lives hell, the only reason she was Head Girl was that she was a Slytherin student. Neville thought Daphne would have made for a better choice but thought that her association with Harry prevented that.

Neville was sitting looking out the window deep in thought as he had for most of the journey so far when in the distance, he saw something bright heading straight towards them.

"What is that." Neville pointing out the window, "is that a muggle flying machine?"

Ginny leaned forward to see where he was pointing and frowned, "No…. I don't think that is."

Everyone moved to the windows on one side of the carriage to get a good look at the light that was growing larger and they noted its bluish hue.

As it soared towards them, they tried to discern what it was, and the light got brighter and brighter and it grew much larger and its shape became visible the closer it came.

The train took a bend on the track and the light banked with them and suddenly they could see what it was, and they stood watching it wide eyed.

"But that's…" Ernie said.

"It can't be…" Parvati gasped.

"It is." Neville said firmly his eyes glinting and his heart hammered in his chest.

The light charged towards them managed to catch up with the speeding train and it moved itself parallel with the carriages and they could be no denying what it was now.

A majestic brilliant blue-white stag was bounding next to the train, its large antlers lifted high into the air.

"Harry." Ginny whispered breathlessly.

The stag didn't linger, it ran onwards up the length of the train and then diverted away and sped off over the hills and out of sight.

"What in the name of Merlin was that about." Hannah asked, "That was Harrys Patronus wasn't it."

"Course it was!" Parvati said rolling her eyes, "It must be a….

Outside something new has appeared heading towards the train, a black shadowy-smoke. Four of them surrounded the train while a fifth pursued the patronus that was disappearing into the distance.

Suddenly the train lurched forwards and the breaks screeched painfully as the train was brought to a juddering halt.

The occupants of the carriage hurtled forwards and Lavender fell out of her chair and landed on a Seamus. The luggage in the racks shifted and Sue and Michael caught the trunks and cases before they fell on anyone with a hasty spell.

"What is happening Lavender shrieked gripping Seamus tightly in fear.

All of them had their wands out and at the ready, they could all remember the only other time the Express had been stopped mid journey and all of them were ready to cast their own patronus should dementors swarm the train.

"Do you think its Harry?" Terry asked in a whisper.

Neville looked out the window and saw two black robed wizards on brooms were hovering outside and he saw their wands in their hands and metal masks on their faces and his blood boiled with hate and red sparks jumped from his wand making Ginny jump.

"No. This isn't Harry." He said in a low voice. "Get back in your seats now, the Express is being boarded by Death Eaters or Ministry Officials."

They all hastened to follow Neville's instruction, but their wands did not leave their hands and some of them shook in fear while others twitched nervously as their bodies reacted to the adrenalin pouring through their veins making them jumpy.

It didn't take long for the door to the carriage to open and three black robed wizards stepped inside and glared at them all carefully. Their wands were in belt holsters, but none wore the masks of the Death Eaters, but neither were they aurors for they lacked the red robes.

"Who are you and what is the meaning of this." Sue demanded.

"Sit down girl." Sneered one of the men, "We are here on ministry business."

"Your Looking for Harrison Black-Potter." Neville said simply, "He isn't here."

"How do you know we are looking for him." Another asked suspiciously, "Do you know where he is?"

"You're here because your following his patronus which was here moments ago." Neville said daringly, "I know that he isn't in this carriage, Harrison wouldn't be foolish enough to board this train."

"Is that so." The man replied, and he looked Neville up and down, "And who are you boy?"

"Neville Longbottom." He replied defiantly and smirked, "I am sure there are places to look under the seats if you would like us to move?"

The man lashed out at Neville then and hit him across the mouth.

"Watch your tongue boy." He snapped.

Neville wiped his mouth and blood welled up out of the split lip, but he did not lose his smile.

"Don't worry sir." He said daringly, "I am sure to remember you and this moment very keenly. I promise you that you will regret harming the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom."

The man looked at Neville uneasily now as the blood seeped out of the wound and he cast a look around at the other students all of whom held their wands by their sides ready to act should Neville order it.

"Be warned boy." The man said slowly, "Your blood might be pure, but it is not a shield."

They didn't linger any longer, they checked for concealment charms on them all and around the compartment but found none so they left and made their way to the next carriage.

Once the door was closed Susan shot a spell at the door sealing them inside and preventing sound to pass through the carriage.

"What was that about!" She demanded of him.

"I am standing up for what is right." Neville told her, and he winced as he touched his lip with his tongue. "If they think they will go unchallenged then they have already won this war."

"War?" Terry snorted, "What war? This war is over they have won."

"No, they haven't." Luna said quietly, "This war will not end until Harry or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is dead."

"Be that as it may." Ernie said, "You shouldn't try and provoke them Neville, what were you thinking."

Neville stayed quiet, not wanting to tell them exactly what had been going through his mind.

"Your trying to step into Harrys shoes." Sue said glaring at him, "That is the exact type of rash demonstration or defiance he would give. You are not Harry, you do not have to follow his example."

Neville looked at Susan for a long moment before he found the words he was looking for.

"I was thinking of Harry, but not in the way you think." Neville frowning as he tried to put his thoughts into words that they would understand. "Harry stands up to those who bully others, he protected those who have no voice. As a Lord that is his role in our community, to guide and protect. I too have the same duty and it is time I lived up to my name."

Sue looked uncomfortable now as she looked on Neville, she deflated slightly, and her eyes flicked from the ring on his finger to the one on her own hand.

"Your right Neville." She said slowly, "But you have to fight smart. We haven't even arrived at school and you have already dared to challenge the new regime. You can bet Snape will hear of this."

A shudder passed through Neville at the mention of the former potions master and now Hogwarts Headmaster. He still hadn't been able to shake the fear of Severus Snape, and he imagined he would be facing him quite often this year and he wouldn't let him see that fear anymore, he wouldn't give him that control over him.

 **o-HP-o**

Driftveil House was the ancestral home of the Danvers Family and lay in twenty miles south of Gloucester surrounded by trees and farmland. The local village was very old and while it is predominantly muggle several magical families also call the village home.

The House of Danvers had been destroyed two centuries prior in a great fire but had been rebuilt and followed the fashion of the muggles of the time with had caused a major controversy across the magical community and some labelled the Danvers as blood traitors as a result.

It was however very opulent, covered in gold and silver, large mirrors and marble and fine artwork and relief plasterwork or sculpted stone. The Danvers wealth was evident in their family home and the size of the estate much of which had been turned into farmland.

The drawing room had hosted a multitude of people and parties of differing sizes but tonight while the nations children ventures north only four people sat waiting on the fifth guest to arrive.

The door to the room opened and in stepped Andromeda Tonks.

"I must apologise for my tardiness." She said tensely, "I have a pregnant daughter, a depressed son-in-law, a wayward nephew and now my husband has taken up the notion to go on the run to avoid bringing the commission down on our house."

The room exchanged a look, all of them were purebloods however Andromeda was the only one of them with a muggleborn spouse. They also knew that if Lord Black were still with them, he would have stormed out of the room to deal with the foolish notion of Ted Tonks.

"Come Andromeda." Augusta said sternly, "Sit down and have a drink, I daresay you need one after the argument I don't doubt you have just had. I think all of us have needed one today after seeing off our children."

Jacob poured a healthy measure of amber liquid into a glass and went to add some water automatically but thought better of it and looked at Andromeda and held up the decanter of water and she shook her head.

Smirking as she took the glass and downed it in one.

"I apologise for being so dishevelled." She said and for once sounded defeated.

"Don't be." Jacob said consolingly he understood her grief, he had lost his sister all those years ago and it had felt like everything was going wrong then too. "You are not the only one struggling, Daniel here has a pregnant wife at his age! Lady Georgiana Greengrass is running him ragged."

Daniel shot Jacob a look of annoyance but didn't deny it, "I had forgotten how pregnancy changes a person."

Lady Georgiana Danvers smiled brightly, "I can sympathise with you Daniel, I drove Jacob mad during my own pregnancy."

Jacob smiled fondly at his wife and took a sip of his drink and was about to change the subject, but Augusta beat him to it.

"So, shall we get on with the reason we are all here?" Augusta said, "I am too old to waste time following niceties, these days' time is a precious commodity and we have very little."

It was a social faux pas to call out a host and not observe social etiquette, but Jacob didn't begrudge her the point, it was true and wasn't about to take offence to it. In fact, he relished the opportunity to speak freely and without worrying about ramifications.

"I am sure you all heard that the ICW convened in Greece to discuss the change of leadership here in Britain and to discuss their response to the direction our community has taken." He told them.

Andromeda was shocked by the news having not even heard of the meeting of the International Convention of Wizards but knew that it did not bode well when the met to discuss a single nation.

"I heard there was to be a sitting of the ICW in Spain to discuss a number of issues." Daniel said frowning, "I wasn't aware their focus was on our community here."

"They have tried to keep the agender of the meeting quiet to avoid antagonising You-Know-Who or encourage Death Eater activities to expand beyond the Isles." Georgianna added, "My cousin's husband is a member of the ICW and write to tell me of this meeting."

"So, did they come to some sort of decision?" Augusta asked, "knowing the ICW I doubt it was a good one."

"No, it's not." Georgianna said simply, "The ICW has decided not to intervene."

"You cannot be serious!" Andromeda said outraged, her features were enough to elicit a flinch from the dowager Lady Longbottom as she saw a ghost of Andromedas mad sister sitting beside her. "To what end?"

"They believe intervening here will only bring down the wrath of You-Know-Who on their countries." Jacob expanded, "So long as muggles remain oblivious to the magical community, the ICW will take no steps to restore our government or strike at the Death Eaters or their master."

"This cannot stand!" Augusta fumed, "Those pig-headed morons! I never expected them to sink to such a low! Why we ever thought helping to found the stupid congregation of self-serving rats escapes me."

Daniel and Georgianna exchanged a look between them.

"What is it." Andromeda said pointedly, "Surely there isn't more?"

Daniel looked hesitant now, "Yes. They have also implemented a travel ban. No foreign witches or wizards are able to come to our shores without facing criminal charges."

The room was silent as this news was digested and additional drinks were poured and downed.

"How in the name of Merlin do they think they can get away with this?" Daniel said, "This decision is a major mistake by the ICW, and this will create severe backlash. Do they think we will forget this? Do they think that we will not seek restitution over this decision?"

Andromeda gave him a stern look, but it was broken with a deep sigh.

"They do not expect us to emerge from this." She said, "They think this war is lost and they are waiting for what amounts to a coup d'état or civil war to blow over, so they can make nice. Only they believe that the Dark Regime is here to stay."

"They might not be wrong." Daniel said, "The regime all but controls all of us now. They have our children."

Georgianna's glass trembled in her hand at this announcement and she looked distraught thinking of both her son and nephews. Her husband placed a comforting hand on her arm and threw a warning look at the sour Lord Greengrass.

"I am sorry, but it is true." Daniel said, "We have to be careful now or our children will suffer as they are held hostage at Hogwarts. I cannot be the only one to see the truth to the mandatory attendance?"

"No, you're not my Lord." Augusta said sternly, "We all have those we care for within the school!"

Daniel nodded stiffly and looked away awkwardly.

"So, Britain cannot expect to receive any assistance." Andromeda said putting down her glass, "I had hoped we could expect some form of aid. Thirty-five muggleborns students and their families were safely warned and placed into hiding to prevent them falling into the Regimes trap at Kings cross."

"The Order of the phoenix only saved so few?" Augusta said surprised, "Why did they not secure more?"

Andromeda looked uncomfortable talking about the Order so openly, but she knew the answer and so should they.

"At least twenty families declined Order protection and have gone into hiding on their own within the muggle world." She explained, "They thought they could do better on their own. Others didn't trust the Order. However, the biggest issue the Order has is that they do not have the gold reserves to house, feed or secure many more than they already have."

"So, you need a financial backer?" Daniel guessed uncomfortably, "You know the risk of this request."

"I do." She said, "You have heard that Gringotts is being closely watched since the duel with Harrison. Something has changed within the bank, they have entered into talks with the Ministry something they had refused to do until that duel on their steps. Rumour is that they have undergone a change in leadership."

"We can help you." Jacob said after looking at his wife closely, "However we need to be careful to avoid attracting attention from our withdrawals. Daniel?"

"I cannot be seen to be aiding the Order of the Phoenix." Daniel said seriously, "I will not endanger my daughters or my pregnant wife. My gold is tied up and I cannot readily access it for at least six months."

"So, you will not help at all Daniel?" Georgiana asked looking slightly shocked by his refusal.

"No, I will not help." Daniel said slowly, "However as you know the Greengrass Holdings are mostly for agricultural purposes. I have an abundance of produce which I sell regularly on the wizard's market. I cannot be seen to help you, but if some of my shipments were to go missing or stolen then of course I would be outraged but couldn't be held accountable."

Augusta smirked as she realised what he was saying, "I can help more directly. Hemlock Hall thanks to my grandson has very successful greenhouses. I can contribute food and medicinal plants too. I would give asylum at Hemlock Hall, but we cannot be so brazen."

"I would agree." Andromeda nodded, "If I had access to the Black family properties, I would also be hesitant to use them too, it is too risky as the Ministry has records of them all."

"So how do we evacuate them?" Jacob asked, "Does the Order have a plan?"

"No." Andromeda admitted, "But they have an idea. It will need to be amended slightly given the ICW ruling but it is workable, we just need a nation to shelter the muggleborns and the Order will do the rest."

"Surely no nation will help?" Jacob said, "They fear the Dark Lords attention."

"I imagine some our sympathetic to our fight here." Georgiana said, "European nations will understand what we face after falling to Grindelwald all those years ago, but I doubt they will bend the ICW Ruling."

"I wasn't thinking of a European Nation." Andromeda said her eyes glinting now, "Tell me, are you still in contact with Leonidas since you Hogwarts?"

Georgiana frowned, "I do, but I don't know what Leo can do to help the Order."

"I just need him to make an introduction to his mother." Andromeda said simply.

Everyone exchanged looks as they suddenly all realised just who the Order were looking to involve and thought if the muggleborns could be sent there they would both be safe but also readily accepted.

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note: Edited April 2019**_


	11. Chapter 11

Harry Potter and the Serpent Conquest

Book Three of The Heritage Series

 **Chapter Eleven**

 **Broken Bonds**

A powerful storm shook the Shack on the Rock violently, the magical protections set up around the structure held back the worst of the storm and kept the noise outside allowing both Hermione and Ron to sleep soundly.

Harry however hadn't been able to sleep; the first strike of lightning and the shudder of the shack has woken him immediately. He had tried for an hour to try and drift back of to sleep but his mind rebelled so instead decided to get up and try and occupy his troubled mind in other ways.

Potion making was the task Harry devoted himself to, setting up three cauldrons on the rickety old table which he had strengthened and expanded with magic. Preparing ingredients methodically, while keeping an attentive eye on the cauldrons and tending to them as needed, but it quieted his mind enough to think more clearly.

They had spent too long in the Shack, it was dangerous to linger in one place despite the protections they had cast. He also worried that spending too long in one place would cause them to become complacent. However, he would admit that the Shack was somewhat comfortable with the addition of magic, and it was defensible.

One issue they were currently facing was their lack of supplies, and it had caused several arguments already and was bound to cause more. Money was the true issue, they barely had any left and Hermione wouldn't hear any suggestions of stealing from muggles. They had thought they could access some money from Gringotts but that had gone out the window like the entire plan.

Working on the potions passed the time quickly for Harry, the storm didn't relent in the slightest but it didn't distract Harry from his task, he brewed eight potions all of which were bottled up on the table.

Looking at his watch he was shocked to see that it was seven-thirty in the morning, knowing that the others would be up soon he began to tidy away the potion making apparatus and clean up the table.

One side effect of working with potions was that Harry was reminded of Professor Snape, and he felt a deep urge for vengeance now he knew that it was Snape that killed Sirius. The traitorous bat had always had it out for Sirius and finally got his wish.

Twenty minutes later Ron stumbled down the stairs and moved into the makeshift kitchen.

"Morning." Ron said grumpily looking like he had literally just crawled out of bed and he moved nosily through the area and slammed down the beaten up tea caddy "Where is the tea?"

"Gone. We drank the last of it yesterday, just like the milk is also gone too so it would have been black anyway." Harry said simply as he stacked the cauldrons on top of each other out of the way ready to be returned to Hermione's bag. "We only have water."

"I don't want water." Ron sniffed moodily glaring at the kitchen as if it were to blame, "Do we at least have food?"

"No." Harry said rolling his eyes, his friend had a one-track mind.

Ron tutted loudly and summoned water from his wand into a glass and took a sip with a sneer.

"Do we have a plan today?" Ron demanded scratching at his left arm with annoyance, "Or are we just hiding here?"

"We have to settle on a plan for our supplies today, we cannot go on like we have been." Harry stressed, "I also have an idea of where we can look next."

"Hogwarts?" Ron said somewhat hopefully before he started itching furiously at his arm.

Harry glared at him knowing his interest in the school had more to do with its well-stocked kitchens than the prospect of finding a Horcrux.

"No." Harry snapped and didn't elaborate further as he wasn't in the mood for the argument that was already brewing.

"For Merlin's sake!" Ron growled slamming the glass down and lifting his sleeve to reveal the skin in his arm, it was mottled with a red rash and covered with scratches. He then pulled his wand out of his pocket and with a muttered word his skin opened, and he extracted their communicator with bloody fingers.

"What are you doing!" Harry cried out and he saw blood pool from the open wound, "You made that cut way too deep! What's wrong with your arm anyway."

"It has been driving me crazy." Ron said dropping the piece of metal in the glass he had been drinking from, and the blood mixed with the water. "It has been irritating me for days."

"Why didn't you say anything." Harry asked annoyed, he went to reach for Ron's arm to examine it, but his friend moved away and went about healing it himself.

"I thought it would pass." Ron shrugged, "you two obviously over reached yourselves thinking you were clever. Fix your mistake and I will use it."

Harry ground his teeth in silent fury and was sorely tempted to throw the cauldrons at Ron, but he kept his temper and refused to start an argument this early. He picked up the glass and used his wand to remove the lump of metal to which the magic was bound and looked at it critically.

"You must be allergic to the metal." Harry said mostly to himself, and he checked that of the magic that he and Hermione had placed into the metal was still there. "we could find an alternative."

"Do it then." Ron said looking through their belongings, "how can we have nothing to eat? You two should be able to do it with magic like my mum can."

"Your mother can do I great many things with her magical culinary talents." Harry said bracingly trying not snap at him. "Conjuring food out of nothing goes against Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration…let's just leave it as it's not possible."

Harry decided not to elaborate on Gamps Law, Ron wouldn't care for the academic side of it all anyway. Gamps law was frustrating but then magic had to have its limitations Harry supposed.

Ron grunted and began to mutter something under his breath that Harry only just managed to catch.

"…Another thing to add to the list of things going wrong."

A loud bang echoed around the shack as Harry slammed his fist onto the table.

"What was that!" Harry growled whirling around, "all you do is moan and complain! Whenever Hermione or I come up with a solution you turn your nose up or just argue against them. The reason we have no supplies is because our money was spent too quickly! And that is down to you!"

"How is that my fault!" Ron snapped back, "You should have planned this mission better! Your ritch as creases so why don't you dip your hand into your own pocket!"

"Why does it always come back to my money with you!" Harry snapped, "yes I am wealthy, I was born with that wealth, but I was hardly raised with a silver spoon in my mouth was I! My money is in Gringotts which as I am sure you remember I cannot access! Only a few days ago I was ambushed by Vol-"

"You mean you killed someone." Ron interrupted.

"WHAT?!" Harry spluttered.

"You." Ron said simply, "Those people are dead because of you."

Harry withdrew away from Ron and felt like he had been punched in the stomach.

"N-No they aren't." Harry stuttered, unable to believe what Ron had said to him. "They died because of him!"

"Yes, because you didn't stop him!" Ron pointed out, "How can you expect us to believe that we can accomplish something when you couldn't even stop that unnecessary death!"

Harry stood and glared at Ron and once more felt the urge to reach into his pocket for his wand and to send the darkest and deadliest curse at him. But instead he pushed those thoughts back from whence they came and instead gripped his hands by his side. His nails digging painfully into his skin.

"I did more than you could have." Harry said coldly, "What do you bring to the table yourself? What skills do you have that Hermione and I do not already have? So far you have forced us into that trap. Got yourself injured in the Ministry. Not to mention the drain on our resources! And worse of all you expect us to do all the work!"

The glass on the table suddenly exploded and Ron's ears burned with fury.

"I caught us dinner the other night!"

"You performed a bloody summoning charm!" Harry snapped at him, "You didn't cook them, though did you? No, you put in minimum effort and expected Hermione and I to do the rest. It's always the same story with you!"

"What is that supposed to mean." Ron demanded.

"You are used to having your every whim met by your mother. You expect three big meals a day and a warm bed. You make out that you were so hard done by but in comparison to my years before Hogwarts you lived fine. In fact, I would go so far as to compare you to my cousin Dudley!"

"I am sure you would think that, the famous Harrison Black-Potter living in the muggle world without the fame and attention!" Ron snapped back, "Now look at you, I remember the boy I met on the train six years ago. I never thought you would sink so low into the dark arts! You have become obsessed with them!"

Harry laughed coolly and watched with delight as Ron moved away from him and he saw a slight flicker of fear on his face now.

"I am such a pampered prince aren't I." Harry said his tone like ice, "for ten years I lived in such privilege. I remember the ten years my bedroom was a cupboard under the stairs, how I would wake up covered in cobwebs and spiders above me. I remember being locked in that cupboard whenever I dared to ask a question or at any sign of magic. I was tormented, bullied and starved. Everything I owned was castoffs from my cousin. I was made to cook and clean and garden, I was treated no better than a house elf. They wanted to squash the freakishness out of me."

Ron's eyes went wide as Harry spoke, he had never told them the whole truth about his time with the Dursleys.

"Every moment you complain and say how hard your life has been I never contradict you." Harry pointed out, "It isn't a competition, but in reality, in comparison to my childhood Ron you might as well be Draco Malfoy living in the Malfoy Manor."

Ron didn't respond he just stared at Harry aghast.

"Hermione doesn't complain about things, she understands and accepts things for how they are and gets on." Harry continued wanting to ram his point home. "You need to grow up and realise that life isn't fair and to decide how you are going to contribute to our mission."

"Fine!" Ron snapped and his hand flew to his pocket and Harry copied the movement instinctively, Ron noticed what Harry had done but made no move to attack him and instead summoned his coat. "You want me to contribute, I will!"

He then picked up their last forty pounds from the table where Hermione had left it, shoved it into his pocket and stormed out of the shack.

Harry watched Ron leave the rock as he stepped onto beyond their protections and disappeared. He silently wondered how Ron would fare in the muggle world and what he would bring back, if Harry was honest, he didn't know if Ron even knew how to shop.

Flicking his wand towards the open door he slightly closed and with another wave of his wand the last of the potion kit was tidied away. He looked around the empty room and was suddenly hit with a sense of loneliness and remorse for his confrontation with Ron.

Not ready to process what had just happened, Harry decided to turn his attention away from Ron, and focused on the communicator that was floating in the glass of bloodied-water.

The magic in the communicators wasn't overly complicated or hard to replicate, it was more the time it would take that was troublesome and more than he cared to spend today. However, what the real challenge was the metal to which the spell work was bound.

It had been Hermione who had sourced the metal, which had been silver so all Harry needed was another metal which wouldn't have the same properties and one that wouldn't cause a reaction from Ron.

Harry went over to what passed as the kitchen and opened the drawers that were filled with all kinds of rubbish and dirty and searched for anything metal and found some old metal cutlery. He began to thoroughly clean them and was pleased to find that one of the tea spoons was marked as stainless steel.

It took Harry just half an hour to melt down the metal using his wand, and from the molten ball he extracted a small amount which he shaped to match the original communicator. Next came the runes that were needed to bind the magic into the metal, he used the scribing kit Daphne had given him to do this and etched the tiny runes into the metal.

The next stage was something that Harry had never attempted before, in fact he had only read of this magical practice in the journal given to him by Nicholas Flamel. It was an odd magic, but he followed the instructions and diagrams for the spell preparation from the journal.

Hermione eventually woke and she came downstairs to find Harry working intently with salt to mark out a pattern on the large table.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously, "This looks like a runic pattern, but you haven't used runes."

"If I have done it right it should be a magical transference spell." Harry said nodding towards the journal, "Its old magic. Persian, I think? Did you know Ron was allergic to our communicators?"

"No." She said surprised and she looked intently at the journal and frowned, "This is very old magic, it's been centuries since British witches or wizards used such magic. It looks fascinating, reminds me of the magic involved in Ward Breaking."

"I thought the same." Harry said, "If this spell does what I think it should, then I hope to be able to remove our magic from the original communicator and then transfer it into the new metal without interfering with the magic."

Hermione nodded absently and she looked keenly at the page of the journal and Harry had been waiting for her to ask to borrow for a while as he had been reading it regularly.

"Where is Ron?" She asked looking around, "I thought I would beat him up, but he wasn't asleep."

"Erm..." Harry said unsure what to say next.

Hermione looked at him sharply and closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"What happened?" She asked him resigned.

"We argued." Harry said, "I pointed out how insufferable he is and that he needs to pull his own weight."

"And..." Hermione said shrewdly guessing there was more and that it wouldn't have gone well.

"I made sure he got the point and he took off with the last of our money to get the supplies we need. It was nothing more besides that, although I admit I might have gone too far." Harry explained and he glanced at his watch and frowned noticing that it was gone half-past nine now. "I would have expected him to be back by now actually, he has been gone for almost two hours."

"What do you mean he has been gone two hours?" Hermione asked now looking very alarmed, "How did you not realise?"

"I was distracted!" Harry said defensively, he has been trying to not think about Ron and apparently had been too successful in that endeavour. "Damn it! He doesn't even have his communicator so he couldn't reach us if he were in trouble."

"Harry, if he was in trouble then he would have sent a patronus, he might not have mastered the talking one yet, but he can easily send a normal one." Hermione said as much to reassure Harry as herself.

"Do we go and look for him?" Harry asked unsure what to do for the best.

"No, if we leave then we could miss him coming back and we don't know exactly where he went, he should have only gone local, but he could have apparated anywhere." Hermione walked over to the peg which her bag was hanging from and stopped, "Where is Ron's rucksack?"

"I don't know." Harry said wondering why she was asking him that.

"It should be on the pegs." She said and she opened her own bag and pointed her wand into its folds but nothing happened, "I took it out of the bag yesterday as he wanted something from it, but its not here now."

A dark and sinking feeling crept up Harrys stomach.

"What if he has run away." Harry asked her quietly, he knew that Ron wasn't happy and was miserable and feeling homesick, and with the argument they had just had could it have pushed him to run away.

"No, he wouldn't have!" Hermione cried looking at him horrified by the mere suggestion and she looked out of the window at the storm that was still raging outside as waved crashed into the rocks. "He wouldn't have left without saying something!"

Harry wasn't so sure about that, he preyed to merlin that he was wrong about Ron.

"You said he took the last of our money?" Hermione stated but she sounded desperate, "Why? If he was leaving why take our money?"

The more Harry thought about it the more he began to think that Ron had run off, the ongoing tension between them both had eaten away at their trust and loyalty, and now Harry couldn't stop thinking the worst of Ron.

"He could have stolen it just to prove some point of his."

"Ron is not a thief!" Hermione said defensively, "There must be some other explanation that we cannot see."

"He came down here complaining as usual of how we don't know what we are doing, and we were not prepared. He cut out the communicator but didn't mention to either of us that it was irritating him? His rucksack is gone, and belongings are gone." Harry pointed out wondering what else she was seeing that he wasn't, "he said he would get us supplies but the rest of his behaviour screams that he planned to run away from our mission."

Hermione didn't respond and turned away to stare out of the window but Harry could see that she was upset, her jaw was clenched tightly and he thought she was trying to hold back tears.

Deciding not to give into the deep anger he was feeling, Harry returned to the spell he had been preparing. There was no use for it now he supposed, more time Ron had wasted. With a wave of his hand the salt rose up and he siphoned it into a large glass jar.

Tidying up the remainder of his preparation by hand he was trying desperately to ignore Hermione as he was now starting to wonder if she would abandon him too.

"Harry…." She said slowly.

"What?" Harry snapped looking at her bitterly only to see the colour had drained from her face and the distort expression replaced by pure terror. "What's out there?"

"Look." She told him pointing out the window.

Hurrying to the window Harry looked through the filthy thin glass and wondered what had caught her attention.

The storm was still raging, however had lost some of its power now. The rain was still coming down hard and the wind harshly whipped the shack, but that was not what Hermione had seen. In the distance, even through the storm he could see a thick mist moving over the mainland that the storms weather had no effect over.

The way it moved was not natural, like it was a living entity rolling across the land ready to swallow it whole.

"Dementors." Hermione breathed shaking now.

"I don't know if our wards have kept them at bay or if they just haven't noticed this rock yet." Harry said alarmingly, "Either way we shouldn't linger. We should have left days ago."

"What about Ron?" Hermione said, "We have to find him!"

"How can we?" He asked her, "He is hardly going to just be walking from the shore back to Burrow. He disapparated, he could be back at the Burrow already for all we know digging into a massive meal curtesy of his mother!"

Hermione's bottom lip began to tremble, but Harry didn't have the time to be delicate with his friends' feelings.

Turning away from her, Harry began to sweep his wand around the shack and summoned all their belongings with magic into the main room and after a few moments Hermione joined him.

Her beaded back floated from the peg to the middle of the room, and everything began to soar into its waiting folds.

"I will go upstairs and make sure we have everything, and we remove any trace that we have been up there." She said hastily before darting up the rickety steps two at a time, Harry wondered if she only went upstairs to hide her tears.

Harry finished packing their stuff away in the beaded bag and kicked open his trunk and pulled outa thick coat out of it before he shrunk it down and that too went into the bag and he began to revert the shack back to how they had found it.

"That's everything." She said breathlessly as she came back downstairs, and Harry saw that her eyes were a little bit red and puffy but not as bad as he had expected.

"Good." Harry said simply.

It was an odd to watch the shack return to how it had been when they had arrived. Watching a dirt, dust and grime formed out of thin air and blanketed everything, how furniture would break apart and rot.

Looking at the shack reminded Harry of another shack he had seen, the ancestral hovel of Voldemort's maternal family.

"What about the wards?" Hermione said as she pulled out her own coat and was pulling her hair into a ponytail, "We have to remove them too."

"We will remove them and as we do, we have to leave immediately." Harry said pulling out of his thoughts of the ancient house of gaunt, "we cannot change the dementors finding us, it will draw to much attention to fight them off."

Hermione shivered as they opened the door and they over the threshold and were buffeted by the harsh cold wind.

"We still need supplies; we should head into town." Hermione said weakly looking towards the mainland.

Harry turned and gave her a hard look, "You want to go into that nest of breeding dementors?"

She gave him a defeated look and she looked away.

It took them five minutes to remove the enchantments around the shack and as the last one fell Hermione grabbed hold of Harrys arm and they apparated away.

 **o-HP-o**

Having fled the shack on the rock under the threat of Dementors, when they had landed, they had immediately been on guard to face whatever might be in front of them. Fortunately, they had landed safely with only the rain to greet them.

They had gone to Edinburgh, they needed supplies and hoped to be able to get lost within the large muggle population centre. However, neither of them felt safe within the muggle areas following their time in London.

So, they had apparated to an island just off up the coast from the Scottish city, it was uninhabited and dotted with old WWII era ruined fortifications. The island was accessible by muggles on foot during low tide however with the use of several spells they were carefully ensorcelled away and out of sight.

As they had no money the only option available to them now was to camp and fortunately, they had the tent that Mr Weasley had given them. It was hardly luxurious, but it was an improvement on many of the places they had stayed recently.

Once they had set up the tent Hermione had sequestered herself in bed claiming that she needed to rest as she was unwell. Harry let her climb into one of the bunks, he knew she was upset about Ron and felt conflicted about leaving.

Harry himself was upset over his best friends' betrayal. He wondered if this was how Sirius and Remus had felt when Wormtail had betrayed Harrys parents. Despite their arguments Harry hadn't thought Ron would run away, over the years they had fallen out several times but had eventually sorted things between them both.

With Hermione out of commission and barely functioning beyond sleeping, Harry decided he would do what Hermione had refused to allow them to do previously. So that afternoon, when his stomach began to growl loudly Harry left the safety of the camp while disguised and walked the trails of the island.

It had been a while since Harry had felt so free, he walked leisurely around the island thinking about the fight that had led to Ron leaving and wondered if he had contributed to him running away or if his friends mind had already be set on the matter.

The muggles Harry passed paid him no attention beyond the occasional nod or small smile. After walking around the island twice Harry finally decided to do what he had set out to do. It much too easy really, a discrete summoning charm a wallet fell from an unsuspecting muggles pocket.

Stealing three different banknotes from the wallet, Harry magically duplicated them and placed them inside the wallet. He then caught up with to its owner and returned it with a smile stating it must have fallen from their pocket. When the muggle checked the wallet, the duplicated money fooled them into believing the lie. The banknotes would disappear within twenty-four hours and by the time the muggle noticed he would not think to blame the kind man on the island who had hurried to return it.

After the deed was done Harry walked away from the muggle and felt dirty, targeting an unsuspecting muggle who had no defence against magic was wrong. Yet if he hadn't done it then they would starve, Harry couldn't decide how to feel about it.

Returning to the camp and easily stepping through the enchantments he had cast, and he stepped into the tent to find Hermione soundly asleep, she looked peaceful, so Harry didn't want to disturb her.

Camping was a cold and damp affair; however, it was somewhat comfortable. It had everything they needed within the magically expanded canvas and it had been improved with some of the comforts of Black House.

Casting the doubling charm on the real note he created a few hundred pounds, the duplicates were worthless, but they would be able to spend them in muggle shops without detection.

With his stomach empty and the extreme tiredness, he felt weighing him down Harry decided to rest, and clambered up onto the top bunk. Ideally one of them should keep watch, but he trusted their enchantments and the sneakoscope sat on the table unmoving.

Harry woke up with a start, suddenly feeling very vulnerable wrapped up in the warm quilt. His sleep had been unusually peaceful for which he was relieved. He jumped down from the bunk and looked for Hermione in her bunk only to find it empty.

A brief shot of fear hit Harry as he wondered if she too had now abandoned him but was soon enough put at ease when he saw her beaded bag on the table next to a note.

 _Gone into the city for supplies, be back soon_

The money he had duplicated had gone; she no doubt knew he had got the money from some type of ill-gotten means but chose not to question it apparently. Their needs outweighing her principles for now.

Harrys stomach rumbled loudly, and he couldn't wait for Hermione to return with their much-needed supplies. He wasn't sure he could wait to cook anything so planned to convince her to get Fish and Chips for dinner, the mere thought of that made his stomach growl in anticipation.

To distract himself from his hunger pains Harry decided to work on the magical transference spell he hadn't finished the day before. Ron might have no need for the communicator now, but it would serve a purpose until Hermione returned.

It took Harry an hour to prepare the salt in the correct configuration, according to the journal it was imperative to the success of the spell. When he was sure that he had done it correctly he placed the original metal communicator in one section and placed the new metal host into another.

Taking a deep breath Harry pointed his wand into the centre of the salt configuration and hoped he had done this right and began to chant the spell over and over.

" _Rabt Altahwil_!"

The original communicator began to glow with a pale green hue and the runic marks then burned brightly and began to their merry dance over the metal lump. The light from the runes died and the salt bed the metal laid on began to glow with the same pale green hue and the light began to spread through the configuration.

Harry watched with fascination as the spell worked, the original communicator had become disempowered and its magic was being channelled through the magical matrix towards its new host. He could see the runes within the salt paths, their magic untouched by the ritual.

As the magic entered the salt bed of the new metal host the runes Harry had etched into it glowed brightly as the magic attached itself. A metallic burning smell rose up from the table and suddenly the salt ignited causing Harry to take a step backwards. The green hue blossomed brilliantly, and Harry had to turn away to shield his eyes and when he looked back the table was empty except two lumps of metal.

Picking up the new communicator, Harry inspected it closely looking for any sign that the spell had failed or had altered the runes but found none. The original metal host was also untouched just entirely benign and disempowered.

Suddenly there was a small pop from outside the tent and he heard someone coming towards the tent flap. Jumping up Harry pointed his wand towards the entrance, even if the sneakoscope and enchantments hadn't reacted he was wary.

When the flap parted, a very cold and windswept Hermione came inside and froze when she saw Harry standing there with his wand pointed at her.

"Its only me." She said and she saw the now empty salt bottle and journal out, "What have you been doing?"

"I made this." Harry said sheepishly, and he held up the new communicator, "or I should say remade."

Hermione glared at the metal for a moment, "Did the transference spell work?"

Gripping the metal in his hand Harry sent a message using it and his own armed burned slightly as it was sent.

 ** _RW: Apparently so._**

Both of them saw the message and they stared at it for a long moment before Harry threw it inside the beaded bag, the reminder of Ron's betrayal and absence touching a sore wound in them both.

Hermione didn't comment further, she instead began to pull shrunken shopping bags from her pockets and once restored placed them on the table and began to unpack everything.

"What did you get?" Harry asked.

"Everything that we need or will need plus extra." She said and she pulled out tins and packets from one of the carrier bags. "I got as much as I could that wouldn't perish, but some of this will unfortunately."

"We enough cupboards in here to place freezing or chilling charms on a few." Harry reminded her, "that's what Mrs Weasley uses at the Burrow, and I think that's how Kreacher stored food at Black House."

"Right." Hermione said mentally berating herself, so used to muggle amenities. "We might not be able to conjure food on its own we can increase what we have with magic. This should be enough to keep us going for a while."

It went unsaid but Harry knew she meant that with only the two of them their food would last longer without Ron.

"What do you want to have for dinner?" Harry asked tentatively wondering if she would let him go and get the chips that he was craving.

"I am too hungry to cook." She said told him as she opened her last bag, "So I got us these."

As the bag was opened Harry was assaulted by the smell of chips and vinegar and his stomach rumbled appreciatively and his mouth watered. From the bag she pulled out two bundles wrapped in white paper.

"I could kiss you." Harry said looking at her wide eyed and flicked his wand to the cupboard that contained plates and summoned two and some cutlery and they landed ready and waiting for their feast.

"I spent all of the money you left out, so we should be careful to make this last." She told him as she passed him is wrap of food, "You know I don't approve of how you got that money don't you."

"Yes." Harry said rolling his eyes and he poured out the chips onto his plate along with a battered cod. "But the money you spent wasn't real tender, it was duplicated. I still have the notes so we can do it again if needed. However right now I don't have the mental capacity to argue with you about it, I need food!"

She shook her head but didn't argue but began to tuck in to her own food with gusto.

"Did you have any trouble in town?" Harry asked.

"No, it was all clear." She said between mouthfuls, "it was odd really, they have no idea of the wizard civil war. I envy their ignorance. But I don't think we should stay here beyond one more day."

Harry agreed with her, it wouldn't do well to stay in one place again but they also had a mission to complete. "I have actually thought of a place we should go."

"Oh?" She said looking at him surprised, "where?"

"Little Hangleton." Harry said, "I think we might find a Horcrux there."

"That's where his family was from isn't it?" Hermione said thinking about it while chewing on the battered cod, "Do you think he would leave one there?"

"Yes." Harry told her, he wasn't sure why but he felt there might just be one somewhere in the area, "I might be wrong, however I think there is a good chance one might be there. It is the heart of his origins, both sides of his family are from there. He killed his muggle family there and placed the blame on his deranged uncle."

"Do you know where the village is?" Hermione asked pausing between the bites of food looking thoughtful, "It might just be a hunch, but it would have a certain allure I suppose, you said he would use places that have meaning. This is the best lead we have had since the ministry."

"I don't know exactly, but I can get us there." Harry said, he remembered the lane he had seen in the memories Dumbledore had left him, he vividly remembered the graveyard and all that had happened there.

They ate the rest of their feast of a dinner with more enthusiasm however neither of them made any mention of Ron. It was a raw wound for the two of them and their greater mission was more important right now. Harry was sure that Hermione was still upset about it and was putting on a brave face whereas Harry felt dumb to the betrayal.

After they had finished with dinner Hermione pulled out a map of the country to try and find the village but was unable to find it, as Harry couldn't tell her where in the country it actually was.

Instead they decided to prepare themselves for their next mission, they didn't know what they would face but they had to ensure they were ready for whatever they might face.

 _ **o-HP**_ _ **-o**_

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 ** _Authors_** _ **Note:**_

I will first say I am very sorry for not posting in 4 months! I have been very busy with work since January and haven't had the time to get this chapter finished despite wanting to.

As you will have seen on twitter (those that follow me) my computer died again but I got it back yesterday and I am off work for a week so made sure to get this chapter finished.

So a comment from me on this chapter, so Ron has left Harry and Hermione, however before you say that I am following cannon believe me when I say i'm not. You will find out more as I post the next few chapters so watch out for the alert for new chapters!

Next Chapter: _Return To Little Hangleton_ \- I am sure you can all guess what this will entail but will have to see how Harry and Hermione overcome it all.


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